**1. Introduction**

Gastrointestinal complications (GIC) in cardio-thoracic surgery (GIC-CTS) constitute a het‐ erogenous group of non-cardiac/thoracic complications. Although relatively infrequent, these complications are associated with significant mortality and severe clinical sequelae. It is also well recognized that GIC-CTS are often difficult to identify clinically [1], and the pre‐ sentation of each specific complication may differ from the presentation of said complication in non-CTS patient populations. The incidence of gastrointestinal complications following CTS ranges from <1% to 4.1% patients [2-4], and is associated with mortality rates between 13.9% and 63% [5-7]. Commonly reported GIC-CTS include gastrointestinal hemorrhage, esophagitis/gastritis, perforated ulcer, acute cholecystitis, acute pancreatitis, and mesenteric ischemia [5]. Predominant factors associated with increased mortality following a gastroin‐ testinal complication after cardiac surgery include patient age, COPD, smoking, NYHA class III and IV heart failure, and hepatic insufficiency [8].
