Relationship between soluble thrombomodulin in patients with intermittent claudication and critical ischemia.

INTRODUCTION: Thrombomodulin (TM) has been described as a marker of endothelial injury in atherosclerosis. The role of TM as a predictor of PAD severity is to be proven. The goal of the present study is to compare the level of plasmatic (TMp) in patients with intermittent claudication with patients with critical ischemia in the lower limbs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TMp was measured using ELISA in the plasma of 41 patients with intermittent claudication degree 1 and in 40 patients presenting critical ischemia in the lower limbs degrees 2 and 3, according to TASC. The hypotheses of normality and homogeneity of the variance had been proven via Shapiro-Wilk and Levene tests, respectively. The comparison of the TMp between the groups was done using the t-Student test. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was observed. The average levels of TMp for intermittent claudication were 5.2 ng/ml (0.78-13.61 ng/ml) and TMp for critical ischemia in the lower limbs were 6.34 (0.82-18.22 ng/ml) where p=0.265. CONCLUSION: TMp does not seem to be an appropriate marker for PAD severity.

Use of arteriography for the initial evaluation of patients with intermittent lower limb claudication.

CONTEXT: Many patients with intermittent claudication continue to be forwarded to the vascular surgeon for initial evaluation after arteriography has already been accomplished. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this work was to analyze the usefulness and the need for this procedure. TYPE OF STUDY: Retrospective study. SETTING: The patients were divided into two groups: Group 1, with the arteriography already performed and Group 2 without the initial arteriography. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred patients with intermittent claudication were retrospectively studied. Other specialists had forwarded them for the first evaluation of intermittent claudication, without any previous treatment. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: All patients were treated clinically for at least a 6-month period. The total number of arteriographies performed in the two groups was compared and the need and usefulness of the initial arteriography (of Group 1) was also analyzed. RESULTS: The evolution was similar for both groups. The total number of arteriographies was significantly higher in Group 1 (Group 1 with 53 arteriographies vs. Group 2 with 7 arteriographies). For this group, it was found that arteriography was only useful in five cases (10%), because the surgeries were based on their findings. However, even in those cases, no need for arteriography was observed, as the procedure could have been performed at the time of surgical indication. CONCLUSION: There are no indications for arteriography in the early evaluation of patients with intermittent claudication, because it does not modify the initial therapy, independent of its result. In cases where surgical treatment is indicated, this procedure should only be performed prior to surgery.

Ground reaction force pattern in limbs with intermittent claudication.

OBJECTIVES: to investigate the presence of a ground reaction force pattern specific to the patient with unilateral intermittent claudication (IC), and the relationship of this pattern with onset of claudication. DESIGN: identification of impulse pattern during gait of lower limbs with and without ischaemia, in patients with unilateral IC and controls. METHODS: thirty patients with unilateral IC and six peripheral arterial disease non-claudicant patients had their gait recorded using the F-Scan system during a treadmill test. Their plantar impulse pattern was calcuated. Examined lower limbs were subdivided into groups: ischaemic limbs (30), contralateral limbs (30) and lower limbs of patients without IC (12). Two impulse patterns were found: the descending one, where impulse values decrease during gait, and the non-descending one, where these values do not decrease during gait. The numerical distribution of patterns among limb groups was determined and their ratios compared. Correlation between claudication onset and impulse pattern was also investigated. RESULTS: most ischaemic limbs exhibited a descending pattern, in contrast with control and contralateral non-ischaemic limbs (p<0.02). There was no relationship between impulse pattern and claudication onset. CONCLUSIONS: ischaemic lower limbs present the descending pattern of plantar impulse. No relationship exists between this pattern and claudication pain.

Predictive value of the ankle-brachial index in the evaluation of intermittent claudication.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the ankle-brachial index (ABI) could be used to predict the prognosis for a patient with intermittent claudication (IC). We studied 611 patients prospectively during 28 months of follow-up. We analyzed the predictive power of using various levels of ABI - 0.30 to 0.70 at 0.05 increments - in terms of the measure's specificity (association with a favorable outcome after exercise rehabilitation therapy) and sensitivity (association with a poor outcome after exercise rehabilitation therapy). We found that using an ABI of 0.30 as a cut-off value produced the lowest margin of error overall, but the predictive power was still low with respect to identifying the patients with a poor prognosis after non-aggressive therapeutic treatment. Further study is needed to perhaps identify a second factor that could increase the sensitivity of the test.

Arterial embolectomy in lower limbs.

Arterial embolisms in the lower limbs occur frequently, and are of great interest to the vascular surgeon. The authors studied 159 cases of arterial embolisms in lower limbs from January 1991 to July 1993. Ages varied from 12 to 98, with a mean of 58. Eighty patients were male and 78 were female. In most cases, etiology of the embolus was well-established, and mainly caused (78 percent) by atrial fibrillation. Occlusion was most frequent in the femoral artery (53.4 percent). All patients presented severe lower limb ischemia, but not gangrene, on admission. The duration of ischemia, between the onset of symptoms and the liberation of arterial flow, was in most patients (67.9 percent) less than 24 hours. All patients were submitted to lower limb embolectomy with the Fogarty catheter, of which 70.9 percent were done through the femoral artery. Fasciotomy was performed on 48 patients due to a compartimental syndrome. Nineteen patients died immediately after operation; 68.4 percent due to heart failure. Twenty-three (16.4 percent) of the 140 surviving patients (150 operated limbs) were submitted to amputations after the occlusion of artery branches, which had undergone embolectomies. One hundred and twenty-seven limbs (84.6 percent) were preserved in 117 patients (83.5 percent). Eleven cases (7.3 percent) required repeated surgery with the Fogarty catheter. The patients with muscle tenderness, paralysis, or ischemia lasting longer than 24 hours had worse results in relation to the preservation of the limb (p < 0.05). We conclude that patients who present lower limb embolisms, are in good clinical condition, and who do not have any necrosis in the limbs, have good outcomes as to limb preservation, along with low complication rates, after embolectomy with the Fogarty catheter. Limb preservation was significantly higher in patients who did not present muscle tenderness, and who had normal motor activity and a ischemia duration of less than 24 hours.

Surgical treatment of noniatrogenic trauma of the femoral arteries.

Trauma to the femoral arteries corresponds to 30 percent of all arterial traumas. The authors reviewed 74 patients with noniatrogenic trauma of the femoral arteries treated from January 1991 to December 1993. Ages ranged from 11 to 50 years, with a mean of 24. Seventy-one patients were male and three female. Fifty-two patients (70.2 percent) were white, 20 (27 percent) were black and two (2.8 percent) were Asian. Trauma due to firearms had the highest incidence, with 61 cases (82.4 percent). Absence of pulse was the most frequent clinical symptom (62.5 percent). Severe ischemia, with risk of loss of limb, was found in 66.2 percent of the cases. The superficial femoral artery was impaired in 77 percent of the cases. A preoperative arteriography was performed on only five patients, victims of multiple penetrating trauma or an asymptomatic penetrating wound along a vessel passage. In six cases, arterial and venous ligature was the chosen procedure. In three cases, a primary arterial anantomosis was performed. Simple arterriorraphy was feasible in one patient. In 64 of the patients, a venous graft was undertaken using a segment of the inverted great saphenous vein withdrawn from the other lower limb. Fasciotomoy was used in 32 patients (43.2 percent), all of whom exhibited pasting of the lower limb muscles at admission. One patient died during the immediate postoperative period as the result of multiple organ failure caused by polytraumatism. Preservation of the limb was attained in 72 patients (97.3 percent) Severe, previously-incurred ischemia was responsible for the only two amputations, aggravated by an exceedingly long delay between the time of injury and surgery. One of these patients, in addition to severe ischemia, had extensive injuries to the soft tissues. We conclude that trauma of the femoral arteries, attended while the limb still maintains its vitality, has a positive clinical outcome with a high rate of limb preservation. Mortality usually results from injury to other organs.

Maintenance treatment of diabetic patients, associating arterial obstructive tibio-peroneal disease.

When a melito-diabetic patient presents trophic infected injury on the limb, it is essential an evaluation of the circulatory conditions for therapeutic procedures orientation. In some circumstances, although arterial pulsation is absent, there is no ischemia of tissues. In these cases, the maintenance treatment, with eventual resection of the necrosed and infected tissues may be adopted. Evolution of 70 diabetic patients with trophic injuries on extremities were submitted to a maintenance treatment. Age of patients varied from 28 to 88 years, with an average of 56.8. The most occurrence was verified in women, with 42 cases. Diabetes non-dependent on insulin (type II) was observed in 64 patients (91.5%), being the remaining 6 patients of type I. Diabetic retinopathy was observed in 14 (20%) of the patients, neuropathy in 22 (31%) and nephropathy in 8 patients (11.4%). All the patients presented arterial pulsation until the popliteal region. They were divided in 2 groups, considering trunk arteries of legs: Group I, pervial legs arteries, composed by 48 patients; Group II, occluded legs arteries, with 22 patients. In what refers to the anatomic local of the injuries, patients were classified in three groups: Group A, formed by 32 patients (45.7%), presenting injuries in one or two toes only, without affecting the metatarsic region; Group B, formed by 16 patients (22.9%), trophic injuries affecting the metatarsic region and Group C, formed by 22 patients (31.4%), injuries affecting the calcaneous region. Injuries in both of the groups were caused by mechanical traumatism. Duration of the injury in the inferior member varied from 7 to 48 days, resulting in a 12 days average.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)