Ischemic stroke after surgical procedures: clinical features, neuroimaging, and risk factors.
OBJECTIVE
To describe risk factors and explore mechanisms of ischemic strokes after general surgery.


BACKGROUND
Strokes follow general surgery in about 0.08% to 2.9% of cases. Patients with previous cerebrovascular disease, atrial fibrillation, hypertension, advanced age, or atherosclerosis were found to have an increased risk. Knowledge of factors involved may guide physicians in determining the overall risk of surgery.


METHODS
This case-control study was performed in a referral center. A total of 61 patients identified through a computerized database with ischemic strokes after surgical procedures-excluding heart, brain, vessels, or neck-between July 1986 and July 1996 were studied. Procedures included 11 urogenital, 16 gastrointestinal, 17 orthopedic, 12 pulmonary, and 5 other. A total of 122 randomly selected controls were matched for age, sex, procedure, and year of procedure. Main outcome measures included arterial territory, timing, risk factors, and perioperative events. Differences were expressed as adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence limits (CL), using multivariate conditional logistic analyses for matched case-control design.


RESULTS
Arterial territory included 37 middle cerebral artery, 11 posterior circulation, 7 borderzone, and 6 multiple. Median procedure to stroke interval was 2 days (range, 0 to 16); 10 patients had intraoperative strokes. Three major risk factors emerged: previous cerebrovascular disease (AOR 12.57, 95% CL 2.14/73.70), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (7.51, 1.87/30.12), and peripheral vascular disease (PVD) (5.35, 1.25/22.94). After adding stroke-related factors, PVD (14.70, 2.01/107.71) and COPD (10.04, 1.90/53.14) remained the strongest variables; blood pressure (1.05, 1.01/1.10) and urea (1.04, 1.01/1.07) contributed slightly. Hypotension did not contribute. Four patients (6.6%) and no controls had diffuse intravascular coagulation (p = 0.01). Four stroke patients had myocardial infarction (6.6% versus 0%; p = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Ischemic strokes after general surgery most commonly occur after an asymptomatic interval. Previous cerebrovascular disease, COPD, and PVD greatly increase the risk. Hypotension rarely accounts for postoperative strokes. Major comorbidity of the patient at risk seems more important than complicating events during surgery.
Limburg
M
M
Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, MN, USA.
Wijdicks
E F
EF
Li
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002536:Cerebral Arteries; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors