ABSTRACT
In an acute presentation, one would expect the limb to be: painful, pale, pulseless, paralysed, paraesthetic, and (perishingly) cold. Embolus, thrombosis, and trauma are the cause acute ischaemia. This chapter provides the procedure for how to assess the cause in this patient. Embolic occlusion is a surgical emergency which requires immediate surgical intervention if the limb is salvageable. The chapter explains how to manage this patient if an embolus was the cause of the ischaemia. It describes the operative principles of an embolectomy. Native and synthetic are the graft types that can be used for a femoropopliteal bypass. Haemorrhage, wound infection, infection of graft, suture-line aneurysm, and graft failure due to thrombosis or pseudointimal fibrous hyperplasia are the complications of a bypass graft.
