Noncardiac vascular complications of coronary bypass procedures: A review

The objective of this paper is to review the major vascular complications of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). We discuss the risk factors, causes, diagnoses, treatment, and prevention of the major complications. A Medline search was done of the English-language literature from 1966 to the present. Key words used included coronary artery bypass grafting, vascular complications, stroke, intra-aortic balloon pump, and acute mesenteric ischemia. Further references were obtained through cross-referencing the bibliography cited in each work. Only first-level evidence was used in the paper. The major vascular complications of CABG are postoperative stroke, acute mesenteric ischemia, acute leg ischemia secondary to intra-aortic balloon pump use, harvest-site wound infections, and deep venous thrombosis. These complications have significant effects on the morbidity and mortality, length of stay, and hospital costs associated with CABG surgery. As a general rule, high clinical suspicion and the administration of early diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for established complications will greatly reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with the respective complications.