The age and advanced stage of atherosclerosis in this patient population require careful preoperative evaluation and attention to detail in the perioperative period in an effort to avoid complications in other organ systems resulting from diffuse occlusive disease. The keys to accurate diagnosis and successful management of patients with acute or chronic mesenteric ischemia include a detailed history, focusing on the quality and temporal relation of the symptoms; an accurate vascular assessment on physical examination, with attention directed to ruling out nonvascular causes of the symptoms; a high index of suspicion of vascular origin for otherwise unexplainable abdominal pain in the patient population at risk; an aggressive diagnostic approach with a low threshold for obtaining mesenteric angiography; CT of the abdomen to rule out occult pancreatic carcinoma; expeditious correction of metabolic and electrolyte abnormalities and optimization of cardiac function; and early surgical intervention, with directed revascularization in an effort to minimize loss of bowel from infarction.