Acute thromboembolic occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery with intestinal ischaemia goes with a high mortality rate of, 80 – 90%, in epidemiological studies. Early diagnosis with help of blood tests at the emergency department is urgently needed to be able to improve treatment results in terms of reduced need of bowel resection and increased use of intestinal revascularization methods, and thereby prognosis. 

There is a lack of specific plasma biomarkers that may detect the disease, like those biomarkers that has been proven to be of use in care of patients with acute myocardial ischaemia. Even if diagnostic accuracy with the help of developments within computed tomography technology has improved greatly, non-occlusive mesenteric ischaemia is seldom diagnosed with this imaging modality. The fibrinolytic marker D-dimer can be helpful at the emergency department today, and a normal D-dimer may highly likely exclude the condition.  More experimental and clinical studies with gene expression of biomarkers at the bowel mucosa and plasma level is needed.

I am a representative of multi-disciplinary research and collaborate with various national and international groups of researchers to compile and accumulate the body of knowledge and pursue research in diseases of the mesenteric arteries and veins in the gastrointestinal tract. I believe in synergism across different medical specialties to be able to make important advances in research.