Anatomic and physiopathologic basis for the diagnosis and treatment of intestinal ischemia

Changes of circulatory parameters in splanchnic territory lead to gut ischemia in an acute or chronic form (postprandial abdominal stroke). The implicated factors in intestinal ischemia are the timing and kind of onset, countercurrent vascularization and the eventuality of anastomotic subsystems for becoming hypertrophic. Superior mesenteric artery (SMA) is the "key" blood vessel implicated in the production of chronic intestinal ischemia, the atherosclerotic lesion being localized more frequent near SMA's ostium or even at ostium itself. Nonoclusif ischemia is induced by another stimulus that provokes mesenteric vasoconstriction, status that affects more the antimesenteric intestinal border, with a larger expansion at mucosa level. The most reseed diagnostic methods are selective angiographies and ultrasound examination. Usually chronic intestinal ischemia is clinically asymptomatic and becomes clinical evident just in the presence of an acute superposed factor or when at least two digestive arteries are affected. Revascularization methods are different, based on the type, mechanism and site of obstruction, each with its advantages and disadvantages. The most used method is retrograde aortomesenteric by-pass, at infrarenal aortic level (that is more accessible than the supraceliac aorta) and SMA reimplantation.