Sepsis in the postoperative period of cardiac surgery: problem description.

Background: In spite of the advances in sepsis diagnosis and treatment in the last years, the morbidity and mortality are still high.

Objective: To assess the prevalence, in-hospital evolution and prognosis of patients that presented sepsis in the postoperative period of cardiac surgery.

Methods: This is a prospective study that included patients (n = 7,332) submitted to cardiac surgery (valvular or coronary) between January 1995 and December 2007.