Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kalp ve Damar Cerrahisi AD, Isparta

Currently, 15 % to 30 % of the patients that undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are diabetics. However, the effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on short-term morbidity and mortality after CABG is controversial. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate whether DM increases short-term morbidity and mortality after CABG or not. Two-hundred-fourty-eight patients who underwent CABG operations in our clinic between June 2003 and September 2005 were included in the study. Mean age of the patients was 59.8 ± 9.75 and there were 187 male (% 76) and 59 female (% 23.9). Seventy-nine patients (% 32.1) were diabetic (DM group) and 167 patients (% 67.8) were nondiabetic (control group). The groups were compared for morbidity data and mortality rates in the postoperative short-term. When the groups were compared for the incidence of intra aortic balloon pumping, acute renal failure, multi organ failure, cerebro vascular complications, superficial wound infection, sternal dehiscence, mediastinitis and reoperation due to mediastinal bleeding, there were no statisticaly significant difference (p > 0.05). Mortality rates in the DM group and the control group were % 3.7 and %4.7, respectively but there were no statisticaly significant difference (p > 0.05). The incidence of superficial wound infection were significantly higher in the patients with insulin-treated DM than both in the patients with oral antidiabetic-treated DM and in the nondiabetic patients (p = 0.066). In conclusion, in this study we found that DM does not significantly increase shortterm morbidity and mortality in the patients who undergo CABG. Provided that strict measures are taken against infections, CABG can be performed in diabetic patients as safely as it is being performed in nondiabetic patients.