Limb ischemia and reperfusion during abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) surgery involves ischemia and reperfusion of the lower extremities, but assessing the pathophysiological changes is difficult. We evaluated the extent and time course of ischemia-reperfusion injury of the lower extremities during AAA surgery.

To monitor oxygen metabolism, two near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) probes were positioned on each calf muscle of nine patients undergoing AAA surgery. Lactate and pH were also measured in both iliac veins.

Near-infrared spectroscopy signals responded sensitively to aortic cross-clamping and declamping. Lactate increased gradually and exponentially during aortic cross-clamping, and reconstruction of the first iliac artery resulted in a further but transient increase in ipsilateral venous lactate. The time course of the pH level after declamping was almost a mirror image of that of lactate. Reconstruction of the first iliac artery did not affect the contralateral NIRS signals, lactate, or pH.

Near-infrared spectroscopy may be useful for monitoring limb ischemia during AAA surgery. The transient increase in lactate and the transient decrease in pH after first declamping may contribute to the mechanism of declamping shock. The fact that first declamping did not affect measurements on the other side shows that contralateral ischemia progresses steadily after reconstruction of the first iliac artery. Therefore, reconstruction of the second iliac artery should be done as soon as possible.