Objective: To investigate the diagnosis and management of acute mesenteric venous thrombosis (AMVT). Methods: A historically controlled analysis was conducted in the clinical data of 13 AMVT patients from July 1995 to September 2002 undergoing surgery-based therapy (group A) and 14 AMVT patients from January 2003 to September 2010 undergoing anticoagulant thrombolytic-based therapy (group B). The length of hospital stay, cure rate and mortality between the two groups were compared. Results: The length of hospital stay, cure rate and mortality of group A was (22.38±2.81) days, 69.2% and 30.8%; and that of group B was (12.21±2.32) days, 100% and 0, respectively. The differences of all the above mentioned parameters between the two groups were statistically significant (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01). Conclusions: Early diagnosis and aggressive therapy with anticoagulants and thrombolytics can increase the cure rate of AMVT, and are also the key faetors to improving the prognosis of this disease.