Ischemia of the colon.

Ischemic colitis is a disease complex that presents as a continuum of mucosal and submucosal hemorrhage, late stricture formation and frank gangrene. The exact form depends upon the degree, site and duration of the vascular occlusion, the presence of collateral vessels and the intraluminal pressure in the colon. In a study group of 19 women and seven men, the majority of whom were in the seventh to eighth decades of life, most frequent symptoms were crampy abdominal pain and abdominal distention associated with bloody diarrhea. Ischemic colitis occurred with increased colonic intraluminal pressure, generalized decreased vascular flow and embolic phenomenon. The predominating predisposing causes were atherosclerosis, shock and congestive heart failure as well as leukemia. The results of barium enema studies showed a pathognomonic condition that included thumbprinting, mucosal ulcerations and sacculations. Arteriography, generally, was not helpful, and results of sigmoidoscopy were invariably negative, since the rectum seldom is involved in ischemic colitis. Conservative treatment should include intestinal rest, low molecular weight dextran and antibiotics. Early operative intervention is recommended when conservative therapy fails or signs of peritoneal irritation become evident.