Injury of the common peroneal nerve after cardiothoracic operations.

Background: To assess incidence, etiology, and clinical relevance of common peroneal nerve injury (CPNI) in patients after cardiothoracic surgery.

Methods: In an 11-year period, CPNI was detected in 39 out of 20,718 patients (0.19%): 38 times after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) (38 of 12,726; 0.