Small bowel infarction and death from primary mesenteric venous thrombosis.

A case is reported of a young man who presented with complaints of epigastric abdominal discomfort secondary to unrecognized mesenteric venous thrombosis, an infrequent but critical condition causing abdominal distress. The patient subsequently died of small bowel infarction. This entity may occur as a primary phenomenon or secondary to a predisposing condition such as trauma, infection, or hypercoagulability.