Morbidity and Mortality of Acute Mesenteric Ischemia: How Can Emergency Medicine Clinicians Impact Outcomes?

Abstract

Acute mesenteric ischemia is a relatively uncommon condition with a very high mortality. Emergency medicine physicians can limit these adverse outcomes by maintaining a high suspicion in those patients with abdominal pain and risk factors. Avoiding and preventing delays in making a diagnosis is paramount in those patients with suspected acute mesenteric ischemia. Early surgical involvement for definitive management, including revascularization and/or removal of ischemic bowel, within the first 12 h can improve outcome. Despite the high mortality of this disease, those patients who undergo early, successful intervention have relatively little morbidity secondary to this disease.