Acute mesenteric arterial occlusion with gangrenous bowel

The picture shows the appearance of the small intestine in a patient who presented with a 12-hour history of abdominal pain. Upon abdominal exploration, the bowel was found to be ischemic and a superior mesenteric artery embolism was identified. Following embolectomy there was minimal improvement in the appearance of the bowel and bowel resection was required; the patient expired less than 24 hours postoperatively.