Diagnostic Approach to Acute Mesenteric Ischemia

Acute mesenteric ischemia is one of the most important urgent states in internal medicine. Diagnosis set on time is the key to success in treatment of this disease. In practice, setting adequate diagnosis is usually lat, because the first symptoms and physical findings were not proportioned to pathogenic changes. When a complete clinical picture of illness develops with signs of ileus and septic shock it is usually too late for adequate treatment. Early diagnosis can be set, if during the occurrence of acute abdominal pain in patients who have status with precipitating factors for the formation of emboli, thrombosis and mesenteric vasospasm, in the early evaluation of disease thought to the possibility of acute mesenteric ischemia, and undertake specific diagnostic procedures. In the first place we must distinguish urgent situations of mesenteric vascular diseases that are made by embolism and thrombosis of superior mesenteric artery (AMS) from chronic states such as chronic mesenteric ischemia or intestinal angina, celiac compression, ischemic colitis and chronic mesenteric venous thrombosis. This article shows the case of patient with acute mesenteric ischemia - arterial thrombosis, which had predisposing factors and has developed an image of vascular ileus. Color Doppler and standard abdominal ultrasound can detect the disease at an early stage, and set the indication for arteriography procedures and surgical procedures.