A rare complication after coronary artery bypass graft surgery: Ogilvie's syndrome

Gastrointestinal (GI) complications occur in less than 2% of patients undergoing open-heart surgery. Acute colonic pseudo-obstruction, known as Ogilvie's syndrome, is also a rare complication encountered in 0.046% of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. It is characterised by massive colonic dilatation without mechanical obstruction in patients with underlying medical or surgical conditions. In this report we describe a patient who suffered from acute renal failure requiring haemodialysis, and subsequently Ogilvie's syndrome, which was treated with high-dose neostigmine.