Introduction
Gastrointestinal (GI) complications are an uncommon, but potentially
highly morbid events following cardiac surgery
procedures1. The reported incidence of these events
are between 0.5%-4.5% of cardiac cases, but the in-hospital mortality
associated with GI complications is around 30%-40%, with some series
reporting higher rates of mortality2–8. Previous
series have identified several risk factors such as increasing age and
comorbidity, as well as and prolonged operation times as risk factors
for development of GI complications3,4,7. While the
postoperative increase in mortality has been well described, the
long-term ramifications of the GI complications after cardiac surgery
are less clear as are the impacts of the individual type of GI
complication on outcomes. In this study, we aim to identify the
incidence, risk-factors, and long-term outcomes of GI complications
following adult cardiac surgery procedures at our institution.