Gastrointestinal Complications
The most common GI complication was Clostridium difficile infection experienced in 69 patients (28.0%), followed by hepatic failure (54 [21.9%]) and GI bleeding requiring blood transfusion (48 [19.5%]). Thirty-nine (15.9%) patients experienced more than one GI complication. Within one year, 103 (41.9%) of patients that experienced a GI complication died. Of these, 33 (28.0%) of these patients experienced a GI bleeding event requiring a transfusion and 32 (27.1%) had postoperative hepatic failure. Twenty-three (19.5%) patients that died within the first postoperative year experienced a Clostridium difficile intestinal infection (Table 3).
Table 4 displays risk-adjusted predictors for postoperative GI complication identified in a multivariable model. In this model, factors such as increasing age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, increasing serum creatinine and increasing aortic cross-clamp time were associated with increased hazards. History of preoperative dialysis dependency (HR 2.33, 95% CI 1.15 to 4.72, P=0.018) and preoperative intra-aortic balloon pump (HR 2.04, 95% CI 1.16 to 3.61, P=0.014) were associated with the highest hazards for GI complications.