The Susceptibility of the Central Nervous System to Open Heart Surgery

The occurrence of transient or persistent neurological deficits in the perioperative course of open-heart surgery is one of the potentially most serious complications limiting a favorable outcome for cardiac patients. While permanent brain damage is only rarely encountered in this setting, several studies indicate that intermittent neurological abnormalities in the postoperative period are a much more common feature unique to cardio-surgical procedures [1, 2, 3]. Such syndromes of impaired cerebral function until now could not be correlated with a particular type of cardiac surgery, the obvious presence of metabolic disturbances, or the type of anesthesia used [4]. The absence of such an ostensible relationship is further evidenced by the fact that we do not observe similar neurological abnormalities after other surgical procedures [5].