[Abdominal angina due to fibromuscular dysplasia of the celiac axis. Surgical management]. / Angina abdominal por displasia fibromuscular do tronco celíaco. Tratamento cirúrgico.

The clinical case of a 27-year old man with the diagnosis of chronic mesenteric ischemia ("abdominal angina") is reported, whose chief complaints were severe postprandial pain and remarkable weight loss, for the last 4 months. Following na inconclusive observation in gastroenterology, he underwent an angiographic-CT examination, that disclosed a critical stenosis at the origin of the celiac axis. The remaining digestive vessels, superior and inferior mesenteric arteries, were found free of lesions. The patient was submitted to a revascularization procedure, consisting in the celiac axis resection and its replacement by a prosthetic graft, arising from the supraceliac aorta. The post-operative course was uneventfull, followed by a complete remission of the pain and a progressive weight gain. The histopathological study of the removed artery revealed the diagnosis of arterial fibrodysplasia, a very rare entity in clinical practice, of unknown etiology, affecting predominantely young people and in a decreasing order of frequency the renals, the internal carotids and the external iliac arteries. The localization of the fibrodysplastic disease to the celiac áxis seems to be a unique case, never reported before in the literature, thus justifying its publication and dissemination.