Cardiac Surgery and the Blood-Brain Barrier

Neurologic abnormality after cardiac surgery is common, and neurologic complications after cardiac surgery are among the most devastating problems that can occur in the postoperative period. Disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) plays an important role in these complications. Assessment of the BBB integrity relies on cognitive testing, MRI, and measurement of brain biomarkers. In applying these methods, up to 50% of cardiac patients show some degree of BBB disruption and most of these abnormalities are short lived. To date there is no single test or measure that can predict BBB disruption in cardiac surgery.