Background
Major perioperative complications are not uncommon during cardiac surgery, which has been attributed to an increase in patients scheduled for complex and urgent cardiac surgeries on account of a surge of patients at the extremes of age.
Patients and methods
This was a cohort study of patients anesthetized for open heart surgery from March 2012 to May 2012 at the Frontier Lifeline Hospital, Chennai, India. Primary outcome measures were the pattern of presentation and complications following cardiac surgery. Secondary outcome measure was the 30-day perioperative mortality associated with cardiac surgery.
Results
A total of 291 patients underwent cardiac surgery. Their mean age was 34.71 ± 26.25 years (range 8.4 months to 81 years). Of them, 63.57% were adults and 66.32% were male. The most common indication for cardiac surgery was coronary artery disease [135 (46.39%) patients], followed by septal defect [60 (20.62%)] and valvular defect [40 (13.75%)]. In patients with coronary artery disease, triple-vessel disease occurred in 39.26% and double-vessel disease in 32.59%. Three patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting plus mitral or aortic valve replacement, whereas off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting was performed in three (2.22%) patients. Sixty-three complications were observed in 291 patients (21.64%); the most common complication was significant pleural effusion in 13 patients (4.47%), followed by deep sternal wound infection in 10 (3.44%) and respiratory failure in seven patients (2.41%). Thirty days' perioperative mortality was seen in 17 patients (5.84%).
Conclusion
We have demonstrated that major complications are not uncommon after cardiac surgery. However; prompt and appropriate intervention reduces mortality.