Patient's question:
My mom has recently been complaining about stomach pain and constipation. I noticed that her time on the toilet has indeed been a bit longer, and I thought something wasn't quite right with her health. So, I took her for a thorough examination. The results showed that there was an embolism in the mesenteric artery and partial necrosis of the small intestine. Should we proceed with immediate surgery?Doctor's answer:
For the elderly, due to often high blood lipid levels and relatively low activity, it is easy to experience recurrent slow blood flow or even blood thickening, which can lead to the recurrence of mesenteric artery embolism. Since the intestine has already become purulent after a mesenteric artery embolism, it no longer has peristaltic function at this point. Surgery is necessary to remove the affected intestine; otherwise, if left in the abdominal cavity, it can easily contaminate other intestines, delaying the treatment.