Introduction:

Acute mesenteric ischemia is the clinical condition that appears when the blood flow of the mesenteric area becomes insufficient to meet intestinal requirements.

Objective:

To characterize the morbidity and mortality of patients with acute mesenteric ischemia.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in the surgery service of Arnaldo Milián Castro University Hospital of Santa Clara City, Villa Clara Province, Cuba, from January 2016 to December 2020. The sample consisted of 119 patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results:

Of the 119 patients who presented acute mesenteric ischemia, patients with risk factors predominated: older than 65 years (97; 81.5 %), female (61; 51.3 %), smokers (52; 43.7 %), with arterial hypertension (84; 70.6 %), ischemic heart disease (57; 47.9 %), diabetes mellitus (31; 26.1 %), and peripheral arterial disease (20; 16.8 %). Surgical management predominated: exploratory laparotomy and closure (55; 46.3 %). The most frequent complications were multiple organ failure (25; 25.7 %) in the deceased patients. Among the necropsy findings, arteriosclerotic thrombosis of the superior mesenteric artery predominated.

Conclusions:

Mesenteric ischemia is frequent in patients with risk factors such as age over 65 years, the female sex, the toxic habit of smoking; as well as chronic noncommunicable diseases such as arterial hypertension, ischemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus. The most commonly performed procedure is surgery (laparotomy and closure). In most of the performed necropsies, thrombosis of the superior mesenteric artery is the main finding according to the necrology reports.

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