Changjiang Daily Wuhan Client May 17 (Correspondent Liu Shanshan) The 89-year-old man suddenly suffered from severe pain and numbness in his left leg and could not walk. He was rushed to the hospital and found to be suffering from a dangerous “leg stalk”. If not dealt with in time, it will face the risk of amputation and even life-threatening.
Grandma Zhang is 89 years old this year. She is usually in good physical and mental state. However, in recent years, her legs and feet have become uncomfortable. Sometimes she feels numbness and pain. Children, but she thought it was because of the inconvenience of her legs and feet, so she didn’t care. Last week, Grandma Zhang suddenly felt severe pain and numbness in her left lower extremity at home. Her entire leg was cold and she could not walk at all. Her symptoms did not improve at night. Her family rushed her to Wuhan Central Hospital for treatment.
Kong Xianghai, the on-duty doctor of vascular surgery, found that the old man’s left lower extremity was cold, swollen and painful, the skin color was purple, and the pulse of the dorsal artery of the foot disappeared, which was the manifestation of severe lower extremity ischemia. The doctor diagnosed him as acute arterial embolism in the left lower extremity based on his medical history and symptoms and color Doppler ultrasound examination. If not treated in time, the patient will be at risk of amputation, and the gradually increasing metabolites of muscle necrosis will spread throughout the body, causing systemic acidosis, multiple organ failure and even death. The situation is very critical, and the top priority is to open up the blocked blood vessels as soon as possible. However, due to the poor vascular condition of the elderly and the combination of various underlying diseases, the risk of surgery is very high. After evaluation, the doctor made a decisive decision to perform minimally invasive hybrid surgery for the patient in the emergency.
The vascular surgery specialist of Wuhan Central Hospital performed the operation on the patient.
After fully communicating with the patient’s family, the vascular surgery expert team performed emergency surgery for Grandma Zhang overnight. The intraoperative angiography showed that there were a lot of thrombosis in the femoral artery and popliteal artery of the affected limb. After more than 2 hours of hard work, Experts successfully removed the thrombus using a thrombectomy catheter. The angiography showed that the blood flow of the blocked blood vessel was smooth. After the operation, the pain and numbness of the patient’s lower limbs were significantly relieved. The mildness and color of the left lower limb skin returned to normal. The old man’s left leg was finally saved.
He Tao, the head of the vascular surgery department of the hospital, introduced that leg infarction is the embolism of the lower extremity arteries, which is a dangerous disease, and its degree of harm is no less than that of myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction. The onset of 6-8 hours is the golden time for treatment. If it is not treated in time, the lower limbs will be irreversibly necrotic due to prolonged ischemia, ranging from amputation to life-threatening in severe cases.
Experts remind that to prevent arterial embolism in the lower extremities, basic diseases such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia should be treated in a normal way, a reasonable diet, and quitting smoking and alcohol will help prevent lower extremity arteriosclerosis. Patients with atrial fibrillation should Seek medical attention in a timely manner, and actively take measures to prevent arterial embolism from atrial emboli shedding. If the lower extremity becomes cold, the skin is pale, the legs and feet are painful, numb, and the patient cannot move, one should be alert to the possibility of arterial embolism in the lower extremity, and seek medical attention in the vascular surgery department of the hospital in time to avoid serious consequences such as amputation due to delayed treatment.