Purpose: Acute abdominal pain can be the result of many different pathophysiological processes. Among the many possible causes, acute mesenteric ischemia is a life threatening condition if the diagnosis is delayed. Generally, the mortality rate for other disease has gradually decreased; however, the mortality rate for acute mesenteric ischemia has not changed significantly and it continues to be 75% to 80% for acute mesenteric arterial embolism or thrombosis and 44% for acute mesenteric venous thrombosis. The aim of this study was to conduct an analysis of the clinical characteristics and mortality of the patients with acute mesenteric ischemia according to the etiology.
Method: From 1989 to 2004, 43 patients were treated for acute mesenteric ischemia. Their mean age was 59 years, ranging from 24 to 81, and the male to female gender ratio was 24:19. We retrospectively analyzed their initial symptoms, the age and gender distribution, the treatment modalities and the mortality rates.
Result: The causes of acute mesenteric ischemia were arterial embolism in 27 cases, arterial thrombosis including arterial dissection in 7 cases and venous thrombosis in 9 cases. Almost all of the patients complained of acute abdominal pain and abdominal tenderness. The overall mortality rate was 30.2% and the rates were 37.0% for mesenteric artery embolism, 42.9% for mesenteric artery thrombosis and 0% for mesenteric venous thrombosis.
Conclusion: In this study, the causes of acute mesenteric ischemia were mesenteric artery embolism and thrombosis, including dissection and mesenteric venous thrombosis. The factors influencing the mortality were the cause of the acute mesenteric ischemia, the extent of involvement of the mesenteric vessels and the extent of bowel necrosis. Thus the most important things for the treatment of acute mesenteric ischemia are early diagnosis and proper treatment.
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