Correspondence

Objective: To study the relationship between cerebral oxygen saturation changes and postoperative neurologic complications. Methodology: Seventy two adult patients with ASA class II, III who were scheduled for elective cardiac surgery, were randomized into three groups: Group I: with CPB (on –pump) Group II: without CPB (off- pump) Group III: valve surgery. Neuropsychological outcome was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Cerebral oxygen saturation was also measured. Results: There was no statistical difference in desaturation of more than 20 % among three groups (P=0.113) but it was significant between group I and II (P=0.042). Changes of rSO2 in different hours of surgery was significant in group I and group II (P=0.0001 in both) but it was not significant in group III ( P=0.075). Conclusion: Although cerebral oximetry is a noninvasive and useful method of monitoring during cardiac surgery, it has low accuracy to determine postoperative neurologic complications