Angiographic aspects of experimental nonocclusive intestinal ischemic injury.

An experiment was designed to fulfill the following aims: (1) to develop a model of nonocclusive intestinal ischemic injury compatible with survival for several days; (2) to determine the accuracy of angiography in diagnosing the presence and extent of intestinal ischemic injury; and (3) to determine the therapeutic and diagnostic value of intraarterial papaverine infusion. Experimental shock models were developed in the dog, and efficacy of the hypovolemic and normovolemic models was confirmed by gross and histologic evidence of intestinal injury in surviving dogs. No reliable angiographic signs of intestinal mucosal injury could be elicited. Angiographic abnormalities associated with the experiment were attributable to the shock itself and disappeared with the relief of shock. Infusion of papaverine into the superior mesenteric artery within 2 hr of the onset of shock prevented or ameliorated intestinal injury.