General surgical problems requiring operation in postoperative vascular surgery patients

Surgical intervention after vascular surgery usually occurs as a result of bleeding or thrombosis, whereas general surgical problems requiring operation after vascular surgery are unusual. The purpose of this study was to review the results of operations for general surgical problems done soon after major vascular surgery. From January 1985 to December 1989, 1,236 major vascular procedures were performed, and 15 patients developed significant postoperative general surgical problems including perforated duodenal ulcer (2), perforated diverticular disease (2), evisceration and dehiscence (2), liver infarct (1), gangrenous cholecystitis (2), clostridial myonecrosis (1), pseudomembranous colitis (1), and small bowel obstruction (4). The overall mortality was very high (47%), and the chance of dying was significantly higher (p less than 0.05) if the initial vascular procedure was an emergency (100% mortality). All the patients who died (n = 7) succumbed to sepsis. There was a long delay in diagnosis in all groups; however, the delay did not correlate with mortality. Although this is a study of a small group of patients with a very heterogenous group of complications, several observations can be made: (1) a general surgical problem after vascular surgery carries a very high mortality; (2) general surgical complications in postoperative vascular patients in whom the initial procedure was an emergency are very poorly tolerated and almost uniformly lethal; and (3) these elderly patients have multiple medical problems and seem unlikely to tolerate any septic insult.