Vascular diseases and complications in cardiac surgery

Cardiac surgery markedly differs from all other types of surgery in the preoperative cardiovascular evaluation as well as in potential perioperative and postoperative complications. An increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, the related complications, as well as the increasing age of the population have a major impact on the contemporary perioperative management of cardiac surgery patients. Therefore, thorough preoperative and perioperative evaluation and diagnostics are essential which allows the identification of patients at high risk for perioperative and postoperative complications and to develop individual treatment plans to minimize these risks. The major perioperative, extracardiac vascular complications that can arise in conventional cardiac surgery and their prevention and treatment are described.