Baseline Preoperative Characteristics and Operative Details
A total of 10,285 patients were included in this study: 6,441 (63%)
isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), 2,290 (22%) isolated
valves, and 1,554 (15%) combined CABG and valve procedures. Of these,
10,039 (97.6%) patients did not experience a postoperative GI
complication, whereas 246 (2.4%) of patients did. In comparison to
those without GI complications, patients with these complications were
older and had higher incidence of preoperative comorbidities such as
atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, prior myocardial infarction, history of
immunosuppression, liver disease, peripheral vascular disease, and/or
cerebrovascular disease. Mean preoperative total bilirubin (0.76 ± 0.46
vs 0.69 ± 0.39, P=0.012), Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score
(11.15 ± 4.45 vs 8.83 ± 3.12, P<0.001), and serum creatinine
(1.48 ± 1.32 vs 1.16 ± 1.01, P<0.001) were also higher in
patients that had GI complications (Table 1 ).
Preoperative Society of Thoracic Surgeons predicted risk of mortality
was higher in patients with GI complications (7.41% ± 8.54% vs 3.10%
± 4.88%, P<0.001). Patients who experienced GI complications
were more commonly bridged to surgical therapy with intravenous
inotropes and/or intra-aortic balloon pump counter pulsation. In both
cohorts, the most common procedure performed was coronary artery bypass
grafting (51.6% vs 62.9%, P<0.001). Mean aortic cross-clamp
time was longer in patients who experienced GI complications (93.04 ±
40.69 minutes vs 82.15 ± 35.54 minutes, P<0.001)(Table
1 ).