Gastrointestinal Complications and Laparotomy after Cardiac Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study

GI complications frequently occur in elderly, co-morbid patients and in conjunction with other complications. Particularly lethal are mesenteric ischemia, GI bleeding, and small bowel obstruction. Extra caution should be observed in the patient group undergoing more than one cardiac procedure or those with a prior history of coronary artery disease. Prompt emergency laparotomy is a potentially life-saving intervention in promptly diagnosed patients, but confers a high risk of intra-operative and thirty-day mortality.