emDocs - September 14, 2020 - By Cai A and deSouza I
Reviewed by Ramzy M; Koyfman A and Long B
"Take-aways for your practice
Mesenteric ischemia continues to challenge emergency physicians with its subtle and variable presentations. Accurate and timely diagnosis significantly improves mortality in this deadly disease. Strategies to avoid missing the diagnosis include recognizing the presentations of the four main etiologies (arterial embolism, arterial thrombosis, nonocclusive, venous thrombosis), maintaining a high index of suspicion and communicating this to the radiologist, raising your clinical suspicion in the elderly, and relying only on CTA to rule out the diagnosis."