Repeated successful aortic embolectomy.

Abstract

Without surgical intervention the catastrophe of aortic bifurcation or saddle embolus results in an immediate mortality of 75%, but surgical removal of the embolus within 6 to 10 hours will usually restore the arterial flow. Embolism implies serious systemic disease. Although most patients survive aortic embolectomy, few of them are alive after five years. They die subsequently from further embolic episodes or from cardiac failure. Previous Reports Bauer performed the first successful aortic embolectomy in 1913. In 1943, McClure and Harkins, 1 in a review of the literature, reported that 21 aortic emboli had been successfully removed. Thiessen and Marxen, 2 in 1952, reported that 34 successful aortic embolectomies had been performed, and by 1958 Dale and Mahoney 3 had counted 64 successful embolectomies at the bifurcation. Since 1958 six more reports of this operation have appeared in the literature. With the advancements in arterial surgery, it is probable that