Strokes are common after heart surgery, according to the results of a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). But it would be possible to determine the risks that they occur according to the patients.
Like the risk of making a Stroke after a heart operation is quite frequent, Canadian researchers wanted to highlight the risk factors to best protect patients.
Scientists at the University of Toronto conducted a large-scale study of 108,711 patients operated on in Canada for a heart problem.
They linked the data obtained for those patients who underwent heart surgery in the province of Ontario between 1996 and 2006 and the incidence of strokes up to 2 years after the operation.
Several risk factors
Researchers have identified several factors that increase the risk of having a stroke after heart surgery. First of all, age and disease play a role.
The patients most at risk are those 65 years of age and over (with 2.5% identified stroke), and those who have already had a stroke or who have atrial fibrillation, a disease responsible for irregular heartbeat. Postoperative atrial fibrillation is a very short-term predictor of stroke. Indeed 18% of people suffer from it the day after a heart operation. And researchers have found that 3.3% of patients who have it have a Stroke just after.
But, the type of operation can also modify the risks. The results of this study reveal that valve surgeries generally generate more postoperative complications, with 1.5% of stroke observed.
“These findings highlight the extremely important role of protecting certain patients after cardiac surgery for two years,” recalls Richard Whitlock of the University of Toronto and co-author of the study.
