[The comparison of operative and non-operative treatment for acute embolism of upper extremity artery].

OBJECTIVE

To compare surgical and non-surgical therapy of the upper extremity after acute arterial occlusion. To analyze the relation between prognosis and relevant factors of different therapeutic methods.

METHODS

Sixty patients with acute upper extremity arterial embolism treated between January 1990 and October 2007 were retrospectively studied in The First Hospital of China Medical University.

RESULTS

There were 60 patients, 32 men and 28 women, with a mean age of 63 years (21 - 86 years). Among them, 31 underwent thrombembolectomies with the Fogarty catheter and 29 received anti-coagulation and thrombolytic therapy. Therapeutic effects were evaluated by Cooley's standard. Therapeutic efficacy was better in the surgical group than in the non-surgical group (P < 0.05). There was no relationship between post-operative ischemic recovery and pre-operative ischemia severity and the site of embolism in the surgical group, while there were significant relationships in the nonsurgical group. The result of Cox proportional hazard regression model showed that the age and Cooley's standard of the patient was correlated with survival time.

CONCLUSIONS

A more active surgical approach is better for the treatment of acute arterial occlusion of the upper extremity.