Liver infarct after sigmoid resection: an unusual case of mesenteric ischemia

Hepatic infarction is an unusual event. A patient is described who had a hepatic infarct after a sigmoid resection. She was found to have occluded superior mesenteric and celiac arteries, with visceral circulation dependent on the inferior mesenteric artery. Disruption of the collateral circulation was presumed to have caused the subsequent liver infarct. A review of the pathophysiology of liver infarction is presented with particular reference to the relation of arterial occlusion to infarction.