Ischemic colitis after aortic aneurysmectomy.

A retrospective analysis was conducted to quantitatively assess eight suspected risk factors for the development of bowel ischemia after abdominal aortic aneurysmectomy. Eighteen patients were studied and compared with 100 randomly selected control subjects who underwent similar operations during the same time period in five Honolulu hospitals, but in whom the complication did not develop. Prolonged cross-clamp time, hypoxemia, ruptured aneurysm, hypotension, and arrhythmia (supraventricular and ventricular) occurred with significantly greater frequency among the patients with ischemia when compared with the control subjects. Age and other preexisting cardiovascular or gastrointestinal diseases did not significantly correlate with risk of postoperative colon ischemia. In addition, the technique of aortic grafting did not significantly influence the risk of development of ischemic colitis, but the number of patients in this study is too small to provide meaningful data on that point.