Successful treatment of acute ischemic colitis with stent insertion

Mesenteric ischemia is rare and is often diagnosed late. Fatal complications or acute ischemic events can occur in the absence of proper treatment. Any sensitive and specific tests are not available for functional diagnosis of mesenteric ischemia until now. If another causes of abdominal pain and weight loss have been confidently ruled out, evidence of visceral artery occlusion at noninvasive imaging (CT angiography, Doppler US, and MR angiography) suggests mesenteric ischemia. Until the 1990s, open surgery was considered the only treatment of choice. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) was reserved for patients to whom surgery carried a high risk. However, open surgery carries a non-egligible risk of morbidity and mortality. In recent years, PTA with stent placement has been recognized as a minimal invasive treatment option for obtaining good long term results with an acceptable recurrence rate and consequently has been suggested for primary treatment of mesenteric ischemia. We describe the successful application of PTA to the inferior mesenteric artery stenosis by using drug eluting stent.