If you are a patient with chronic atrial fibrillation, you should take it very seriously when you have a sudden onset of severe abdominal pain! Maybe it is not acute gastroenteritis or appendicitis as you think, but another rare clinical disease, superior mesenteric artery embolism! Superior mesenteric artery embolism is an acute complete vascular occlusion that occurs when an embolus enters the superior mesenteric artery. The sudden decrease or loss of blood supply to the superior mesenteric artery leads to muscle dysfunction of the intestinal wall and acute ischemia and necrosis of the intestine. Clinically, superior mesenteric artery embolism is a rare disease with an annual incidence of about 816/100,000, but once it occurs, the condition is extremely dangerous and the morbidity and mortality rate is extremely high, reaching 70% to 100%!!! The disease is more common in men than in women, and is more frequent between the ages of 40 and 60. Most patients have a history of heart disease that can form arterial emboli, such as myocardial ventricular aneurysm after myocardial infarction, atrial arrhythmia, rheumatic valve disease, aortic atherosclerosis, etc. More than 1/3 of patients have a history of limb or cerebrovascular embolism. The disease has an acute onset with sudden onset of severe abdominal pain, accompanied by frequent vomiting. In the initial stage, there is a mismatch between abdominal pain symptoms and signs, with severe abdominal pain and mild abdominal signs. When vomiting of bloody watery material or dark red blood stool occurs, the abdominal pain is reduced. As the disease progresses, the patient may develop signs of peripheral circulatory failure such as abdominal distension, weak pulse, cyanosis of the lips, bruising of the fingertips, and cool, clammy skin. The mortality rate of acute superior mesenteric artery embolism is extremely high, and early and correct diagnosis and timely treatment are the keys to reduce the mortality rate! Therefore, seek medical attention promptly when you experience the above symptoms, follow your doctor’s instructions, and complete tests such as ultrasound or abdominal CTA. It is important to know that when there are signs of intestinal obstruction or even peritonitis, the resuscitation time is calculated in minutes. On the one hand, doctors need to decisively conduct surgical exploration to clarify the diagnosis and carry out treatment, and at this time, they should not emphasize the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis and delay the treatment time, on the other hand, patients and their families should not dwell on the certainty of diagnosis, but cooperate with doctors to complete preoperative preparation as soon as possible, so that they can strive for On the other hand, patients and their families should not dwell on the diagnosis, but should cooperate with the doctors to complete the preoperative preparation as soon as possible, so that they can strive to restore the intestinal blood supply by embolization or vascular bridging, and remove the necrotic intestinal tube and embolized mesentery. In this way, the success rate of patients with acute superior mesenteric artery embolism can be improved to a certain extent.