[Surgery of gastrointestinal vessels, selective indications for revascularization in a syndrome suggestive of chronic small intestinal ischemia].

The authors present a critical review of the indications for revascularization of intestinal arteries in the presence of chronic ischaemia of the small intestine. They stress the extreme lability of the "chronic" clinical stage and emphasize the fundamental importance of establishing the diagnosis before the development of acute complications. Based on a personal experience of 92 intestinal revascularizations with a follow-up of one to 26 years, they stress the good quality of the results obtained after isolated revascularization of the superior mesenteric artery by direct or indirect reimplantation into the infrarenal aorta. However, they do not challenge the current tendency towards multiple revascularizations, but consider that the essential prerequisite for a correct result is the early surgical treatment of a disease which is still poorly understood and frequently disappointing.