Arterial emboli were extracted from 79 patients between 1955 and 1963 with polyethylene catheter suction systems and/or retrograde flushing and from 149 patients between 1963 and 1973 with Fogarty catheters. The Fogarty-era patients were older, had a greater incidence of ischemic heart disease, and presented with a greater degree of preoperative peripheral ischemia. The limb salvage rate of 87 percent after Fogarty catheter embolectomy was not statistically different from the salvage rate of 79 percent after suction catheter embolectomy, but the number of limbs with distal pulses postoperatively was significantly greater after Fogarty treatment, 64 vs. 42 percent. Delay in treatment and the presence of prior occlusive vascular disease adversely affected results in both eras. The in-hospital embolic recurrences occurred in 9 percent of the patients anticoagulated postoperatively and in 31 percent of those not anticoagulated. Heparin and warfarin were equally effective in preventing recurrences, but wound complications were seen in 33 percent of the heparinized patients, compared with 7 percent of those receiving warfarin and 4 percent of those not anticoagulated.