Case report: chronic mesenteric ischaemia as a cause of abnormal bowel uptake of labelled leucocytes.

Chronic mesenteric ischaemia is often difficult to diagnose. A high level of clinical suspicion is needed and further investigation requires invasive procedures. We present a case where weight loss and abdominal pain were dominant features and initial interpretation of a labelled leucocyte scan suggested inflammatory bowel disease. Subsequent investigations excluded this possibility and chronic ischaemia was confirmed at autopsy. Positive small bowel images using 99Tcm-HMPAO labelled leucocytes may indicate chronic ischaemia.