Summary: Acute lower limb ischaemia poses a major threat to limb survival. For many years surgical thromboembolectomy was the mainstay of treatment. Recent years have brought an endovascular revolution in the management of acute lower limb ischaemia. A wide range of endovascular procedures can nowadays be employed, providing results at least as good as the traditional surgical approach. This paper is an overview of currently utilised endovascular options as well as recent modifi cations of standard surgical techniques.

Purpose. The aim of this study was to present abdominal wall reconstruction using a porcine vascular graft seeded with MSC (mesenchymal stem cells) on rat model. Material and Methods. Abdominal wall defect was prepared in 21 Wistar rats. Acellular porcine-vascular grafts taken from aorta and prepared with Triton X were used. 14 aortic grafts were implanted in place, of which 7 grafts were seeded with rat MSC cells (Group I), and 7 were acellular grafts (Group II). As a control, 7 standard polypropylene meshes were used for defect augmentation (Group III). The assessment method was performed by HE and CD31 staining after 6 months. The mechanical properties have been investigated by Zwick&Roell Z0.5. Results. The strongest angiogenesis and lowest inflammatory response were observed in Group I. Average capillaries density was 2.75, 0.75, and 1.53 and inflammatory effect was 0.29, 1.39, and 2.72 for Groups I, II, and III, respectively. The means of mechanical properties were 12.74 ± 1.48, 7.27 ± 1.56, and 14.4 ± 3.7 N/cm in Groups I and II and control, respectively. Conclusions. Cell-seeded grafts have better mechanical properties than acellular grafts but worse than polypropylene mesh. Cells improved mechanical and physiological properties of decellularized natural scaffolds.

Current intra-arterial catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) protocols recommend treatment with small doses of a thrombolytic agent, which excludes patients in need of urgent revascularization. We evaluated the effects of accelerated thrombolysis utilizing increased recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) doses. Forty-one patients with acute, thrombotic limb ischemia (ALI) were treated using accelerated CDT. The treatment consisted of an initial dose of 10 mg rt-PA for 30 minutes followed by a 3-hour course of a continuous intra-arterial 10 mg/hour rt-PA infusion. Simultaneously, intravenous unfractionated heparin (500 IU/hour) was administered. No deaths occurred. Satisfactory lysis was achieved in 37 of the 41 patients (90.2%). All significant underlying lesions were corrected (89.2%). Complications developed in nine patients (22%); the most frequent complication (four patients, 9.8%) was puncture site hematoma. The reintervention rate was 2.6% and 15.4% at the 1 and 6-month follow-ups, respectively. The major amputation rate was 10.3% and 12.8% at the 1 and 6-month follow-ups, respectively. Outflow compromise was adversely related to successful outcome at the 6-month follow-up (p=0.01). In conclusion, this study confirms the effectiveness and safety of the accelerated CDT regimen for treatment of thrombotic ALI at a single center, but requires confirmation in further studies.

Visceral adhesions to polypropylene mesh are significantly reduced because of acetic acid extracted collagen coating. The collagen coating does not increase complications or induce alterations of polypropylene mesh incorporation.