Celiac Steal Resulting in Chronic Intestinal Ischemia

Abstract

There is considerable controversy regarding the existence of celiac axis compression syndrome. Despite this, there is clearly a subset of patients with extrinsic compression of the celiac axis who have symptoms and who benefit from operative therapy. Clinical features that may help to identify those patients who are most likely to respond to surgical therapy have been studied; however, the authors present a patient who had a favorable surgical outcome despite lacking many of these clinical features. The patient had significant celiac steal. They suspect that the presence of celiac steal may be an important determinant of a successful surgical outcome.