Between January 1984-May 1999 at the Ondokuz Mayıs University Medical School, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, 179 patients who had 190 surgical interventions with acute peripheral arterial occlusion of the upper or lower extremities were evaluated retrospectively. The patients age ranged between 8 month and 92 year (mean age 59.40). Mostly localisation in the femoral artery (66.84%) was observed. The major reasons of arterial thromboembolism were atrial fibrillation in 60 cases (33.51%), arteriosclerosis in 44 cases (24.58%), atrial fibrillation + mitral stenosis in 34 cases (18.99%). Thromboembolic occlusion was bilaterally in 11 patients. All of the patients unerwent femoral, femoral + popliteal or brachial embolectomy. The patients were separeted into two groups on the basis of registration time to hospital (Group I and Group II). Extremity preservation rate was 91.00% in Group I and 70.00% in Group II. 4% of the patients who admitted within 12 hours were died. These rate was 15.55% in patients who admitted later than 12 hours.

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