Objective: The aim of this prospective study was to review incidence of neurological and cognitive complications after coronary artery bypass graft surgery and find out predictive factors, associated with perioperative cerebral dysfunction.
Material and methods: A prospective pilot study of 35 (27 men and 8 women, mean age 64.5+/-4.3 year) patients with identified coronary artery disease was conducted using Case Report data collection document. All patients underwent isolated elective CABG procedure at Cardiac center of Kaunas University of Medicine Hospital.
Results: There were two cases (5.7%) of postoperative transient ischemic attack, two cases (5.7%) of restless agitation with delirium, characterised as an postoperative encephalopathy and eight patients (22.8%) with cognitive abnormalities.
Conclusions: The Canadian Stroke Scale and The Confusion Assessment Scale are sensitive and objective methods for diagnostics of postoperative neurological dysfunction. To characterize the incidence and severity of neuropsychological dysfunction, a concise battery of neuropsychologic tests that provides reliable evidence of subtle brain trauma should be used.