[A clinical study on acute mesenteric arterial occlusion]

Thirteen patients with acute occlusion of superior mesenteric artery are presented. Eight of them presented with sudden abdominal pain as the initial complaint while the others did with vomiting, abdominal distension or general fatigue. Arterial blood gas and deficit determinations revealed metabolic acidosis in 45.5% and large deficit in 100%, which was considered to be a reliable method for accurate early diagnosis of acute mesenteric arterial occlusion. Eleven patients underwent laparotomy and massive bowel resection, two of which had treatment with selective intraarterial infusion of urokinase prior to operation. One of two remaining patients did not need operation because she went on to complete recovery after fragmentation of embolus in the superior mesenteric artery by the percutaneously inserted catheter on angiography. The other one was inoperable because of poor general condition. The overall mortality in this series was 53.8%.