Epidemiological Analysis of Patients Diagnosed With Vascular Acute Abdomen in a Complementary Care Hospital in the City of São Paulo/Sp, Brazil: A Retrospective Study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate epidemiological, clinical, and prognostic profile of patients with acute vascular abdomen (AVA), framed as acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) undergoing surgery. METHODS: Medical records of patients with AMI, who underwent surgery at Hospital Sancta Maggiore, São Paulo/SP, Brazil; between January 2017 to August 2021, were reviewed. For data analysis, the SPSS program version 18.0, independent Student t-test and Chi-square tests were used. RESULTS: Eighteen patients with a median age of 78 years were selected. The main personal history was hypertension and 63% reported severe abdominal pain on admission. 47% had door-to-surgery time less than 1 day, with surgical time less than 1 hour in 44% of cases. 31% stayed in the ward for more than 7 days and 40% stayed in the ICU for 1 to 3 days. 67% of the patients died. There were no significant differences between severe and extremely severe patients. In the elderly, AVA stands out as a rare condition with high mortality, tends to be more incident and may mimic acute abdomen: obstructive, inflammatory and/or perforative. CONCLUSION: AVA is a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge with likely future increased incidence. It is up to surgeons to obtain the necessary knowledge to diagnose and treat it to decrease its morbidity and mortality.