Background: Gastrointestinal ischemia (GIisch) is challenging to diagnose in patients after cardiothoracic surgery. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) carries substantial false-negative and false-positive rates. The aim of the study was to evaluate if a combination of readily available variables improves the diagnosis of GIisch after cardiothoracic surgery.
Methods: This retrospective study included patients receiving intensive care after cardiothoracic surgery. GIisch was confirmed by surgical and/or endoscopic findings. A GIisch prediction score was developed using the Spiegelhalter-Knill-Jones system in a training cohort then tested in a validation cohort (patients without obvious signs of GIisch on CTA).
Results: The training cohort comprised 125 consecutive patients with suspected GIisch in 2008 to 2019, including 85 with confirmed GIisch. CTA, performed in 92 patients, had a high false-negative rate of 17/60 (28%) and a lower false-positive rate of 7/32 (22%). The score included cardiopulmonary bypass, negatively associated with GIisch, and six variables positively associated with GIisch: intraoperative mean arterial pressure < 50 mm Hg, aspartate aminotransferase > 15 N, lactate increase in 24 hour > 20%, and 3 CTA findings, namely, bowel dilation, bowel wall thickening, and mesenteric vasoconstriction. The area under the receiver operating characteristic was 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51-0.93) in the training cohort and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.68-0.96) in the validation cohort (n = 34 patients). Reliability of the predicted probabilities was greatest for probabilities ≤ 30% or ≥ 70%.
Conclusion: In patients receiving intensive care after cardiothoracic surgery, GIisch cannot be ruled out based solely on CTA findings. A scoring system combining CTA findings with other variables may improve the diagnosis of GIisch in this population.
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