Acute mesenteric ischaemia

Purpose of review: To summarize the recent evidence on acute mesenteric ischaemia (AMI).

Recent findings: The overall incidence of AMI is below 10/100 000 person years but increases exponentially with age. The overall mortality of AMI remains high, exceeding 50%, despite continuing progress and increasing availability of imaging and endovascular interventions. However, patients with (early) revascularization have significantly better outcomes. The majority of patients surviving the acute event are still alive at 1 year, but evidence on quality of life is scarce.Clinical suspicion of AMI is the key to timely diagnosis, with biphasic computed tomography-angiography the diagnostic method of choice. Currently, no biomarker has sufficient specificity to diagnose AMI.

Summary: Improved awareness and knowledge of AMI are needed to raise the suspicion of AMI in relevant patients and thereby to achieve better outcomes.