role of non invasive imaging in the surgical management of the patients with mesenteric venous thrombosis

ABSTRACT

Twenty-one patients of surgically confirmed diagnosis of mesenteric venous thrombosis were included in this study. A detailed history was taken and thorough clinical examination was performed. The patients were divided into two groups Group A included eight patients who showed an evidence of localized or generalized peritonitis and group B included 13 patients who showed nonspecific clinical findings. The duration of symptoms was significantly longer in patients from group A than group B. All patients were subjected to ultrasonographic abdominal examination with color flow Doppler scanning. It could suspect the diagnosis of mesenteric venous thrombosis in 62.5% and 76.9% of the patients in group A and B, respectively. Immediate surgical exploration was performed in all patients from group A without any further investigations. Contrast enhanced spiral CT was done in 11 patients from group B, while contrast enhanced MRI was done in the other 2 patients. A surgical exploration was done in all of them