Keywords:
Small bowel, Emergency, MR, Experimental investigations, Diagnostic procedure, Ischaemia / Infarction
Authors:
D. Berritto, F. Iacobellis, F. Somma, M. P. Belfiore, S. Cappabianca, A. Rotondo, R. Grassi; Naples/IT
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2012/C-2152
Purpose
Acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) is a life threatening vascular emergency that encompasses a broad spectrum of diseases,
with reported mortality rate between 60% and 90% (1,
2).
The poor prognosis of gut ischemia is partially due to the lack of specific findings,
either clinical or radiological,
that leads to delayed or misunderstood diagnosis and consequent ineffective treatment (3-7).
AMI may present occlusive (arterial/venous) or non-occlusiveethiopathogenesis(8).
It has been estimated that the majority of cases (65%) are caused by arterial embolism or thrombosis,
25% by non-occlusiveaetiologyand the remaining 10% from venous thromboticaetiology(9).
The signs of acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) vary depending on the cause and underlying pathophysiology.
Three animal models of AMI were developed to investigate magnetic Resonance (MR) findings,
intestinalmorphodynamismand histological pattern of AMI due to various primary causes.