[Ischemic bowel disease (author's transl)]

Geriatric patients are preferentially involved in ischemic bowel disease. The sudden occlusion of the large mesenteric arteries (a. mesenterica superior (more frequently) and inferior) is followed by intestinal gangrene and peritonitis with a poor prognosis and a high letality (greater than 90%). In chronic intestinal ischemia the leading clinical symptom is postprandial pain ('claudicatio intestinalis'). In some cases of acute mesenteric artery occlusion no embolus or thrombus will be found. In these cases the circulation in the arteriosclerotic vessels falls below a critical value due to cardiac insufficiency, shock, digitalis overdose and others. In less severe ischemia the mucosa is involved being most sensitive to O2 deprivation. It usually regenerates within a few days. This form is found more frequently in the colon than in other parts of the gut (about 40%): ischemic colitis. The therapy - if possible in acute, fulminant ischemia or if necessary in chronic intestinal ischemia - is surgical consisting in reconstructive procedures of the mesenteric circulation.