Severe acute hand ischemia following an accidental intraarterial drug injection, successfully treated with thrombolysis and intraarterial Iloprost infusion. Case report.

A young woman with acute upper extremity edema and ischemia after intraarterial drug injection is presented. Unsatisfactory results from standard treatment were the reason for changing the therapy to temporary thrombolysis, which led to significant improvement. Some days later severe impairment forced another attempt at applying standard therapy, again unsuccessful. Only after continuous intraarterial infusion of Iloprost®, a new improvement occurred and saving of the hand was possible. It became obvious that more effective therapeutic measures ought to be applied when severe hand ischemia following intraarterial drug injection is present.