Q: My grandpa’s doctor said he died from “dead bowel.” How does somebody’s bowel just up and die?
A:The doctor probably meant a condition called ischemic bowel disease. As people get older, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) occurs in most blood vessels. This process is worse in folks with high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and smoking. Doctors have gotten to be very good at opening up the gunked-up larger arteries of the body in the heart, neck, legs and even abdomen. However, when atherosclerosis progresses in the small vessels supplying the tissue of the bowel, a condition called ischemic bowel is said to exist. This can lead to “bowel attacks,” like heart attacks in that flow to the bowel is stopped in that area and the tissue supplied by that artery dies. If this happens on an extensive scale, it can lead to a fatal situation with lots of compromised bowel that can’t be fixed by even the best surgeon. Used to be, we did not see as much ischemic bowel as we do now; however we’ve done such a good job of keeping people from passing away from other things that we are seeing a lot more of this condition of late.
– Dr. John Wood, lipid disorder
specialist; member Chattanooga-
Hamilton County Medical Society