The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 97, 126-129, Copyright © 1989 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a complication of cardiothoracic surgery
M Schiff, A Katz, B Farber and M Kaplan
Department of Medicine, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, N.Y. 11030.
We identified 13 patients who contracted acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
or human immunodeficiency virus-related disease after a cardiothoracic
operation. The operations were performed between January 1981 and November
1984, and the diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus-related disease was
established from 26 to 54 months after operation. The survival time from
diagnosis ranged from 8 days to 14 months in the 10 patients who have died.
A clinical illness developed in three of the patients immediately
postoperatively that was consistent with primary human immunodeficiency
virus mononucleosis. The clinical features included a wide variety of
opportunistic infections, but an abnormally high percentage of the patients
first showed symptoms of dementia or neoplastic disease. In many patients,
the diagnosis was not suspected for a prolonged period of time. On the
basis of the prolonged incubation period, the incidence of this disease is
likely to increase for several more years.