[Extensive bowel infarction caused by intraaortic balloon pumping].

Two cases of an extensive bowel infarction occurred during Intraaortic Balloon Pumping (IABP) are reported. In the first, an acute myocardial infarction was seen suddenly on the seventh postoperative day following arterial reconstruction of the right lower leg and his condition required IABP support. Five day after beginning of IABP, severe symptoms suggesting peritonitis appeared, and laparotomy revealed an extensive infarction of small bowel and sigmoid colon. In the second, the patient required IABP support for weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass after completion of coronary artery bypass grafting. A severe peritonitis was caused by an extensive infarction of small and large intestine during two days of IABP support. Cholesterol emboli were found in the small bowel arteries of the case 1 at microscopic examinations of the autopsy specimen. Both patients died of cardiopulmonary failure and renal failure respectively, though necrotic intestine were resected. Circulatory support using IABP should not be selected, when a patient has severe arteriosclerotic lesions of the aorta.