covid-19 associated mesenteric ischemia in a patient from duhok city, kurdistan region of iraq: a case report

Introduction: the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2) causes severe respiratory infection. gastrointestinal symptoms have been reported in up to 10% of patients. case presentation: we here report a case of covid-19-associated acute mesenteric ischemia in a patient presenting with fever and abdominal pain, deteriorating over a four-day period. the diagnosis was initially missed due to a low suspicion level. covid-19 infection was confirmed by chest ct scan and rt-pcr. then the patient underwent an emergency laparotomy showing segmental small bowel ischemia of about 2 meters (between the lower jejunum and upper ileum). resection of the ischemic segment was performed by end-to-end anastomosis. he was then discharged from the hospital after recovering from covid-19. conclusions: the present case report highlights the importance of being vigilant about mesenteric ischemia symptoms in the patients with covid-19, presenting with progressive abdominal pain for timely ordering appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.