Role of multislice computed tomography angiography in the diagnosis of clinically suspected acute mesenteric ischemia

Background: The study aims to determine the accuracy of computed tomography angiography (CTA) in the diagnosis of cases of acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI). Patients and methods: Fifty patients clinically suspected to have AMI were included and evaluated by multislice computed tomography (MSCT) abdominal angiography to detect the sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of the procedure. Results: The final diagnosis confirmed mesenteric vascular occlusion (MVO) in 29 (58%) patients; of the 29 patients with MVO, 10 (34.5%) patients had arterial occlusion and 19 (65.5%) had venous occlusion. MSCT showed MVO in 28 (56%) patients; of the 28 patients with MVO, 10 (35.7%) patients had arterial occlusion and 18 (64.3%) patients had venous occlusion. As regards the 28 patients diagnosed by MSCT as MVO, the final diagnosis approved MVO in 27 of them while one patient was negative. CTA showed a sensitivity of 93.1%, specificity of 95.24%, and an overall accuracy of 94%. Conclusion: CTA is an accurate tool that helps in the diagnosis of bowel ischemia with high accuracy in diagnosis. This supports the role of CTA as the ideal first‑step imaging procedure in cases suspected to have AMI.