No abstract

We identified the preoperative and intraoperative predictors associated with an increased incidence of postoperative gastrointestinal complications after cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass. Because these complications are associated with frequent morbidity and mortality, these predictors may be helpful in identifying patients at increased risk so that risk stratification can be modified and perioperative management can be appropriately adjusted.

These prospective multicenter findings demonstrate that patients undergoing intracardiac surgery combined with coronary revascularization are at formidable risk, in that 1 in 6 will develop cerebral complications that are frequently costly and devastating. Thus, new strategies for perioperative management--including technical and pharmacological interventions--are now mandated for this subgroup of cardiac surgery patients.