Recovery of intestinal function after successful superior mesenteric embolectomy
✍ Scribed by J. P. A. Weaver; J. Anderson; R. W. T. Haddon
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1965
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 333 KB
- Volume
- 52
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0007-1323
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
ROYAL VICTORIA INFIRMARY, NKWCASTLE UPON TYNE
ALTHOUGH embolism of the superior mesenteric artery is not a rare occurrence and accounts for about half of all acute occlusions of the artery, successful embolectomy with restoration of normal digestive function has been achieved in only a small number of cases. Klass (1951) first described such an operation, but his patient died of heart failure forty-eight hours after operation. Van Wee1 (1956) recorded a successful embolectomy, but resection of gangrenous bowel was also necessary for the survival of the patient. Stewart and his colleagues, in 1951, were the first to achieve a complete success without intestinal resection (Stewart, Sweetman, Westphal, and Wise, 1960); and further cases have been reported by Shaw and Rutledge (1957)~ Miller and D i Mare (1999, Saris and Uricchio (1960)~ Atwell (1961), de Niord and Pugh (1961), Zuidema (1961), Baue and Austen (1963), and Hardy (1963). Three of these authors describe diarrhoea developing in their patients after operation, but in the other cases there is no record of postoperative bowel function.
This is an account of a patient in whom a successful embolectomy was performed and detailed studies of bowel function carried out during the first four months after operation.