Does preoperative screening with computed tomography of the chest decrease risk of stroke in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

Background: Stroke is one of the most feared complications post coronary artery bypass with aortic calcifications being the commonest source of embolic stroke. The aim of our study was to determine the clinical impact and usefulness of routine use of plain chest computerised tomography to screen for aortic calcification on incidence of postoperative stroke in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients.

Methods: This is a retrospective case-control study that included four hundred and five patients who underwent primary isolated CABG and had preoperative plain chest computerised tomography as a screening for aortic calcification.