THROMBOLYSIS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF LOWER-LIMB PERIPHERAL ARTERIAL-OCCLUSION - A CONSENSUS DOCUMENT

The aim of this paper is to develop an intercontinental consensus on t he use of thrombolytic therapy in occlusive peripheral arterial diseas e affecting lower limbs, A working party of self-designated angiologis ts, hematologists, interventional radiologists, and vascular surgeons of Europe and North America convened at 4 closed meetings. All publish ed data known to any of the participants was entered into discussion, The working party discussed the topics outlined in this paper and a fi rst draft was prepared in segments by members of the working party, di scussed, and further revised into an interim report, It was then circu lated to a number of Societies for their input, A final meeting of the Working Party together with delegates of the Societies collaborated o n the definitive version of the text, The Party appreciates that in ma ny areas the scientific evidence is not yet available, Nevertheless, i t was felt that enough practical and scientific data were available to establish recommendations for clinical practice as well as for report ing results of thrombolytic therapy, which could be updated as later e vidence became available. The guidelines apply only to drugs currently available for clinical use, are also considered to be sufficiently co gent that regulatory agencies should move to approve thrombolytic agen ts for intra-arterial therapy of acute lower extremity ischemia. (C) 1 998 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.