[Incidence of perioperative cardiovascular complications. A prospective study of 700 patients]

700 patients were included in a prospective study. The course of their disease was followed up and analysed from the day of premedication to 28 days postoperatively. Concomitant diseases as well as intraoperative and/or postoperative complications were documented. Analysis of the complications shows increased incidence depending on the underlying disease. Patients with and without pre-existing diseases of the cardiovascular system and of the respiratory tract or with and without therapy of e.g. pre-existent hypertension were examined. If, for example, pathological changes are seen in the ECG during the preoperative stage, extrasystoles may occur in 10% of the patients intraoperatively, in 2.7% in the awakening room, and in 7.8% in the aftercare ward. The study indicates that preoperatively existent abnormal organ functions exert a direct influence on the complication rate both during the intraoperative and the postoperative phases. Hence long-term planning of postoperative treatment is the more important, the higher the multimorbidity of the patient. This requirement is underlined by the comparison of intraoperative and postoperative mortality curves with 0.42% to almost 8% in the patients examined; the mortality rate of all surgical patients is 3.3%.