Ischemic bowel disease in chronic dialysis patients

Ischemic bowel disease, especially acute mesenteric ischemia, carries high morbidity and mortality rates. Any delay in diagnosis or treatment aggravates the patient's outcome. Owing to the scarcity of reports concerning ischemic bowel disease in chronic dialysis patients, we investigated the ischemic bowel disease in chronic dialysis patients.

From January 1986 through April 1997, medical records of 2416 chronic dialysis patients at our hospital were reviewed. Among them, 5 patients with surgically documented ischemic bowel disease were enrolled. The clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, operative findings, pathologic test results and prognoses of these patients are reported.

Abdominal pain, abdominal distension and bloody stool were major initial presentations. The mean age of the patients was 62.4 years at the time of diagnosis of ischemia. All patients had hypertension, 3 patients had hyperlipidemia, three patients had diabetes mellitus and three patients had history of shunt occlusion. Four patients had leukocytosis. Image studies revealed dilatation of bowel loops in four patients. Peritonitis made exploratory laparotomy necessary. The findings during operation showed turbid ascites and variable degrees of bowel ischemia or gangrene. The methods of surgical intervention depended on the severity of the disease. Only one patient died due to extensive ischemic bowel involvement and subsequent sepsis.

It is mandatory to have an index suggestive of ischemic bowel disease in chronic dialysis patients with unexplained abdominal pain or discomfort. Early diagnosis and aggressive surgical intervention is the cure modality for patients with acute ischemic bowel disease.