To investigate clinical manifestation of acute mesenteric artery embolism (AMAE) in patients with non valvular atrial fibrillation.

The retrospective study was performed on the clinical data of non valvular atrial fibrillation patients combined with acute mesenteric artery embolism admitted into the Second Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 2005 to January 2015. There were 36 patients, with ratio of male to female of 1.57∶1. Nearly all patients were admitted due to stomach, most the persistent and acute pain.

The incidence of AMAE was about 0.09% among 12 685 non valvular atrial fibrillation patients, but the incidence of AMAE was about 30.6% in these 36 patients. All AMAE patients did not take anticoagulant drugs within 3 months. Belly pain was the starting symptom of AMAE, with normal D-dimer level. The total mortality of AMAE was 27.3%, with mortality of 12.5% for surgery patients and 66.7% for non-surgery patients.

AMAE is a rare involvement of non valvular atrial fibrillation, when atrial fibrillation is the risk factor for AMAE. CTA serves as a valuable supplementary approach in the diagnosis. Taking anticoagulant drugs and operation is effective in decrease of mortality.