Cardiovascular surgery in blacks.

The available information concerning cardiovascular surgery in blacks is very limited and incomplete. Those few reports that do exist seem to show that the usual indications for surgery, preoperative findings, and final results can be expected. Acquired heart disease is as important a cause of mortality in African Americans as in others and is amenable to surgical intervention. Surgical mortality is easily attributable to the usual iatrogenic variables or comorbid disease. At present it is uncertain whether the incidence of inoperable disease or problems of access to health care are responsible for the low rate of utilization by blacks. A more accurate account will become available when large-volume programs begin to report their results.