Doppler sonography of the inferior mesenteric artery: a preliminary study.

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to look for the inferior mesenteric artery in patients undergoing abdominal sonography, to determine in what percentage of patients it is visible, and to characterize Doppler flow patterns of the inferior mesenteric artery in fasting patients without intestinal vascular disease. The inferior mesenteric artery was sought in 100 consecutive fasting adults (mean age, 54 years; 63 women, 37 men), as follows: the infrarenal aorta was scanned in a transverse plane; the origin of the inferior mesenteric artery was identified on the left anterolateral surface of the aorta; the inferior mesenteric artery was then traced caudally along the left side of the aorta. The inferior mesenteric artery and the superior mesenteric artery were studied with Doppler sonography in 50 different subjects without clinical or Doppler sonographic evidence of abdominal vascular disease (mean age, 44.9 years; 17 men, 33 women). Pulsed Doppler samples were taken within the inferior mesenteric artery in sagittal planes. The resistive index was calculated from the superior mesenteric artery and the inferior mesenteric artery. The inferior mesenteric artery was detected in all but eight patients (92%). In seven patients obesity prevented visualization. The eighth patient had undergone abdominal surgery on the previous day, limiting the sonographic examination. The diastolic flow in the inferior mesenteric artery was less than that in the superior mesenteric artery in all patients. The resistive index was 0.959 +/- 0.045 in the inferior mesenteric artery and 0.856 +/- 0.046 in the superior mesenteric artery (P < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Sonographic and Doppler assessment of the inferior mesenteric artery: normal morphologic and hemodynamic features

“…The first report of this type regarding the IMA was published by our group following a preliminary study of normal and pathological cases [8]. These data have been confirmed by others in a more recent study of the same type [18].…”

“…Besides reporting the results relative to a larger population, the present study differs from the previously published papers [8,18] in that the sonographic and Graph showing estimated flow volumes (range and SD) for the IMA with respect to patient age (õ50 years or ¢50 years). The difference between the two age groups is statistically significant (p Å 0.01).…”

Doppler waveforms of the normal and collateralized inferior mesenteric artery.

“…On the other hand, the normal spectral patterns of the superior and inferior mesen teric arteries in the fasting state are similar to the higher-resistancevesselsin the periphery. The mean RI in the normal superior mesen teric artery is about 0.85 ± 0.04 [7,111 and is lower than the mean RI of the inferior mesen teric artery. According to these results, we suggest that the inferior mesenteric artery has the highest RI of the abdominal visceral yes sels.…”

“…Mirk [6) The low velocity of end-diastolic flow causes the RI of the inferior mesenteric artery to be considerably high. In the study by Do nys et al [7], the mean RI in healthy individ uals is 0.959 ± 0.045. In our study, this value was 0.89 ±0.06 in the control group.…”

Color Duplex evaluation of the mesenteric artery

“…US exploration of the inferior mesenteric artery is more difficult because of its small size and position next to the loop of the small intestine. The first study on color Doppler US evaluation of the inferior mesenteric artery was reported by Mirk et al [6], who published data which were reconfirmed in later studies [15,16].…”