ABSTRACT
Although attention has recently been paid to atherothrombotic microembolism from atheromatous plaques or from adherent thrombotic material, such pathological occurrences were first mentioned in the German literature over a century ago.[1]
However, within the last several decades, the pathological implications of this specific entity have come to our attention, showing it to be a mechanism of serious pathology of the brain, viscera, and both upper and lower limbs. The lodgment of atherothrombotic microemboli (defined as particles 1mm in size or smaller) into end arteries has now been documented in virtually every part of the human body. The production of stroke or cerebral insufficiency by this mechanism is discussed in Chap. 48, but atherothrombotic emboli are also known to cause renal cortical ischemia,[2,3] left colonic gangrene,[4] and ischemia of the fingers (Chap. 63). This chapter deals specifically with such embolization in the lower limbs.
