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Ischemic colitis is an occasional cause of abdominal pain and intestinal bleeding in older patients. In this retrospective case series from a New York teaching hospital, researchers describe anatomic characteristics and outcomes in 313 cases documented by colonoscopy (with biopsy) or surgery.
Primary location of the ischemic colitis was in the right, transverse, left, and distal colon in 25%, 10%, 33%, and 25% of cases, respectively; 7% were pancolonic. Patients typically had multiple comorbidities; those with right-sided colitis were more likely than other patients to have atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease, and coronary disease. A specific precipitating cause (e.g., sepsis, acute mesenteric artery thrombosis) was noted in only 14%…