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Updated: May 26, 2026
Large-Animal Model of Donation after Circulatory Death and Normothermic Regional Perfusion for Cardiac Assessment
Published on: May 10, 2022
The value of post mortems in cardiac surgery: learning from the dead
Ravi J De Silva1, P Bhinda, M Goddard
1Oxford Heart Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom. ravidesilva@nhs.net
Background:
Little information is available regarding the role of post-mortem in cardiac surgery. The cause of death by clinical presumption can be misleading. The aim is evaluate the role of post-mortem following cardiac surgery by comparing clinically attributed causes of death versus post-mortem findings.
Methods:
A total of 10,099 cardiac operations were performed over a seven-year period in a single institution in the United Kingdom. There were 363 (3.6%) deaths. The mean age at death was 71 with 66.7% male. Of these, 348 (95.9%) patients underwent a post-mortem examination.
Results:
There was a significant disparity between presumed and actual causes of death in 78 (22.4%) patients. The commonest unrecognised cause of death was cardiac causes (21 patients, 6.0%). The most overestimated cause of death was multi-organ failure, which was incorrectly diagnosed as the cause of death in 28 patients (8.0%).
Conclusions:
Post-mortem can determine unsuspected diagnoses in a significant proportion of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. It plays an important role in cardiac surgery and remains essential for quality assessment in perioperative treatment.
