[Acute disorders of the mesenteric circulation among heart defect patients]

The author analyzes the clinical picture, diagnostic methods, and results of the treatment of mesenteric artery thromboembolism in 30 patients with rheumatic heart disease. The early symptoms that permit the physician to suspect mesenteric thromboembolism include sudden convulsive pains in the abdomen, vomiting, diarrhea, leukocytosis, and the discrepancy between the clinical picture of the complication and scarce objective data from examining the abdominal cavity. When the diagnosis of the acute occlusion of the mesenteric vessels has been made, urgent surgical intervention is indicated which is to include the resection of the non-viable portion of the intestine and the surgical correction of the blood flow in the superior mesenteric artery.