An uncommon cause of visceral arterial embolism in patients presenting with acute abdominal pain: a report of 2 cases

We report on 2 cases of visceral arterial embolism presenting with acute abdominal pain. In neither patient a cause could be established on initial clinical, laboratory, echograpic or radiologi- cal investigation. Both patients were subsequently found to have a mural thrombus in the thoracic aorta, with visceral arterial embolism. Each underwent a successful operative thrombectomy. Both patients had a normal underlying aortic intima at inspection. The first patient was a young male with no known diseases. He regularly used cannabis and tested positive on admission, an asso- ciation not yet reported with aortic mural thrombus. He was found to have a slightly reduced protein C. The second patient was a middle aged man with non-insulin depen- dant diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, arterial hypertension and hyper- thyroidism. He was found to have an underlying adenocarcinoma of the lung and received chemotherapy. He died due to his cancer, 4 months after first presentation. (Acta gastroenterol. belg., 2010, 73, 55-60).