General surgical complications after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery.

In a single institution, 142 general surgical complications were found in a total of 82 patients after 5,682 cardiac procedures. There were 54 complications in 40 patients within 6 weeks of surgery and 88 complications more than 6 weeks after surgery. There were 12 deaths in the early group and one death in the late group. The incidence of these general surgical complications was low in both the early and late groups (0.9 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively). The mortality rate of general surgical complication within the early group was 23 percent. After 6 weeks the mortality rate was less than 2 percent. Mortality was higher following valve procedures than following coronary artery bypass operations in the early period. Anticoagulation and arrhythmias were both minimal management problems after general surgical operations. The anatomic area most frequently involved was the biliary tract. Documented low cardiac output preceded many of these complications in the early group.