title: Successful aspiration and thrombolytic therapy for acute superior mesenteric artery occlusion.
abstract: To report a case of acute superior mesenteric artery (SMA) embolism successfully treated with aspiration and pharmacological thrombolysis. A 74-year-old female was admitted to the hospital with acute abdominal pain 5 hours in duration. Computed tomography angiography revealed a complete embolic occlusion distal to the first jejunal branch of the SMA. Aspiration and local continuous thrombolysis with urokinase resulted in near complete revascularization of the mesenteric flow after 4 hours and almost complete restoration after 20 hours. The patient made a complete recovery and continues to do well on warfarin therapy after treatment. Aspiration and thrombolytic therapy can be an alternative treatment modality in surgical high risk patient.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endo-Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Wonkwang University College of Medicine, Iksan, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Jae
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Byun
authors.forename: Byung Jun
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: So