Acute Gastrointestinal Complications after Open Heart Surgery

Retrospective analysis revealed that 24 of 4401 adult patients (0.5%) developed severe gastrointestinal complications after open heart surgery during a 3-year period from January 1995. There were 4 women (17%) and 20 men (83%). Mean age was 61.7 ± 2.02 years. Gastrointestinal bleeding (33.3%), mesenteric ischemia (20.8%), pancreatitis (20.8%), hepatic dysfunction (16.7%), and cholecystitis (16.7%) were the most common complications. Mortality was 41.7% (10 patients). During the same period, mortality in the patients who did not develop gastrointestinal complications was 1.89% (p < 0.0001). Emergency basis, reoperation, combined operations, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease, and impaired left ventricle function were found to be risk factors for the development of postoperative gastrointestinal complications.