Endovascular Management for Symptomatic Chronic Mesenteric Ischemia: A Single-Center Experience

Chronic mesenteric ischemia (CMI) is an uncommon condition encountered by clinicians. Presentation may vary from asymptomatic to classical intestinal ischemia, although a clear pathophysiology has yet to be elucidated. Here, we have presented our institution's experience in the management of symptomatic CMI.

From February 2007 to February 2016, a retrospective study was performed of all consecutive patients with symptomatic CMI managed by endovascular treatment (ET). We reviewed these patients' demographics, comorbidities, clinical presentations, and treatment modalities. Perioperative and midterm outcomes included technical success, clinical symptom relief, complications, symptomatic recurrence, mortality, restenosis, and reintervention.

Thirty-five mesenteric arteries (74.3% stenotic/25.7% occluded) identified in 32 patients (12 females, 20 males) were treated with endovascular procedures. There were no 30-day deaths; the perioperative complication rate was 12.5%. Overall, the median postprocedural time to symptom relief was 7.6 days (range: 1-30 days). Twenty-two (68.8%) had complete remission of symptom, whereas 7 (21.9%) had partial improvement in symptom after ET. After a mean follow-up of 35.4 (25.9) months, 5 (15.6%) patients developed recurrent symptoms, with 4 requiring reinterventions. The primary patency was 93.7%, 82.6%, and 73.1% at 12, 24, and 36 months, respectively, and the freedom from symptomatic recurrence was 90.6%, 84.0%, 84.0%, and 84.0% at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months, respectively.

Endovascular treatment for patients with CMI had a high technical success rate and satisfactory clinical outcomes. Symptomatic recurrence was not frequent but found mainly within 12 months following the initial procedure.