Oral Antibiotics Reduce Intestinal Necrosis in Acute Mesenteric Ischemia: A Prospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVES:To identify treatments likely to prevent progression towards irreversible transmural intestinal necrosis (ITIN) in acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI).METHODS:Prospective observational cohort study from a French intestinal stroke center. Multivariate analysis using a time-dependent Cox regression model.RESULTS:Between 2009 and 2015, 67 patients with AMI were included. ITIN occurred in 34% of patients and mortality was 13%. Oral antibiotics was independently associated with a decreased risk of ITIN (HR: 0.16 (95% CI=0.03-0.62); p=0.01).CONCLUSIONS:By decreasing luminal bacterial load and translocation, oral antibiotics in addition to early revascularization might reduce progression of AMI to ITIN.