Article Text
Summary
In general, acute lower limb ischaemia is caused by embolic, thrombotic or traumatic phenomena. Here, we describe the case of a 67-year-old woman in an emergency room setting who was initially assessed for paralysis and numbness of her lower left limb. On physical examination, the abdomen was distended and non-compressible. An abdominal AngioScan showed complete occlusion of the left iliac artery by extrinsic compression of the dilated small intestine. After a review of the literature, no case was found describing a lower limb ischaemia by extrinsic vascular compression secondary to a compartment syndrome caused by small bowel obstruction. The treatment of this case required surgical decompression of the abdomen which led to an instantaneous reperfusion of the left leg. Unfortunately, the patient deceased a few hours after the surgery due to haemodynamic deterioration.
- general surgery
- vascular surgery
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Footnotes
Contributors All authors contributed to the conception and design of the case, the acquisition of data as well as analysis and interpretation of the data available. F-CM and PA drafted the report and F-CM, VB and VL revised the article critically for important intellectual content. All authors gave final approval of the version published.
Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Parental/guardian consent obtained.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.