Acute limb ischaemia can occur in patients through all age groups.

Acute limb ischaemia is due to either an embolism or thrombosis.

In treating acute limb ischaemia time is everything.

Patients that smoke and have diabetes mellitus are at a higher risk of developing acute limb ischaemia.

Acute limb ischaemia occurs when there is a sudden lack of blood flow to a limb.

Symptoms of acute limb ischaemia include:

The major cause of acute limb ischaemia is arterial thrombosis (85%), while embolic occlusion makes up 15% of causes.

In addition to critical limb ischaemia, and acute limb ischaemia, there are several other related ischemic conditions which exist.

With proper surgical care, acute limb ischaemia is a highly treatable condition; however, prolonged or delayed treatment can result in morbidity, amputation, and/or death.

Arterial and venous occlusions, including carotid artery stenosis, pulmonary embolisms and acute limb ischaemia.

In the worst cases acute limb ischaemia progresses to critical limb ischaemia, and results in death or limb loss.

Compartment syndrome can occur because of acute limb ischaemia because of the biotoxins that accumulate distal to the occlusion resulting in edema.

In order to treat acute limb ischaemia there are a series of things that can be done to determine where the occlusion is located, the severity, and what the cause was.