Massive Intestinal Infarction without Vascular Occlusion Associated with Aortic Insufficiency

ABDOMINAL pain has been noted frequently in patients with aortic insufficiency, often unrelated to congestive heart failure. The clinical significance of this symptom presents difficulties not only in differential diagnosis but also in evaluation of its physiologic basis.1 Harvey, Segal and Hufnagel2 have described in detail the characteristics of this type of pain and remarked on the notable lack of pathological correlation. In a report of a similar case of prolonged abdominal pain in association with aortic insufficiency3 extensive petechiae and ecchymoses were noted at autopsy throughout the gastrointestinal mucosa, most pronounced in the colon.A recent observation of a . . .