Infarction after embolization of the ileocolic artery

Treatment of colonic hemorrhage by therapeutic embolization of the involved artery may, rarely, result in bowel infarction. In one patient with angiodysplasia, bowel infarction resulted from a therapeutic embolization of the ileocolic artery, because of the arterial anatomy of the cecum, occlusion of the cecal branches can result in devascularization of the cecum and appendix, even if the colic and ileal branches are not occluded. Thus, the ileocolic artery may not be a good candidate for therapeutic embolization.