Vaskulárna medicína 1/2014

Dekubitus – ako prejav kritickej končatinovej ischémie?

Critical limb ischemia is the most serious form of peripheral arterial disease of the lower extremities. If it is neglected, treatment of these patients becomes medically, socially and economically extremely difficult situation. We compared three groups of patients admitted to Long Term Ill Department of Academician L. Dérer University Hospital Bratislava. The group of mobile patients without pressure sores, a group of disabled patients without pressure ulcers on the heels and a group of immobile patients with pressure ulcers on the heels. It has been shown that immobilized patients with pressure ulcers on the heels, had the greatest number of risk factors, the lowest values of hemoglobin, iron and albumin concentration. We found that 60 % of patients with pressure ulcers on the heels had peripheral arterial disease with the finding of hemodynamically significant stenosis or obliteration of one or more arteries and reduced ankle-arm index. We believe that pressure ulcers on the heels in immobile patients can be regarded as the first manifestation of a possible critical limb ischemia with the need for further diagnostic and consideration of revascularization.

Keywords: critical limb ischemia, pressure sores on heels, immobilization.