CIRSE Standards of Practice for the Endovascular Management of Acute Arterial Upper Limb Ischemia

The CIRSE Standards of Practice (SOP) Committee established a writing group to produce up-to-date recommendations for the endovascular management of acute arterial upper limb ischemia (AAULI). In this SOP, “acute” refers to symptom onset or clinical deterioration occurring within the preceding 14 days and does not imply that the thrombus itself is newly formed; acute-on-chronic occlusions, organized embolic material, and thrombosis superimposed on a pre-existing stenosis, aneurysm, graft, or compression-related lesion are, therefore, included when the clinical presentation indicates an acute threat to the limb. CIRSE SOP documents are neither clinical practice guidelines nor systematic reviews of the literature. They are not intended to impose a standard of clinical care; rather, they outline a reasonable approach and describe best procedural practices, with the present document focusing on the endovascular management of AAULI.