Methods: Data were collected from 319 patients undergoing heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass in our institution between December 1999 and October 2001. EuroSCORE was used for risk stratification. The incidence of common risk factors were as follows; chronic pulmonary disease (10.97%), neurological dysfunction (4.38%), previous cardiac surgery (3.76%), unstable angina pectoris (22.88%), reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (28.21%), recent myocardial infarction (18.18%), and non-elective operation (3.13%). When the scoring system was applied in three different risk groups, the patients with 2 or less points were allocated to low risk group, with 3 to 5 points to moderate risk group, and with 6 or more to high risk group.

Results: Expected and observed mortality rates for low (n = 160), moderate (n = 111), and high risk (n = 48) groups were, 1.09% ± 0.06% vs 0.63% ± 0.63%; 3.68% ± 0.74% vs 3.60% ± 1.78%; and 7.44% ± 0.32% vs 6.25% ± 3.53%, respectively. Overall, the expected and observed mortality rates were 2.95% ± 0.14% vs 2.51% ± 0.88%. There wasn’t any statistical difference between observed and expected mortality in all three groups (p > 0.05). Areas under ROC curve was found 0.71.

Conclusion: EuroSCORE is a simple, objective and up-to-date system for assessing heart surgery. We found that EuroSCORE is a successful system for predicting the mortality in our clinics. We recommend its widespread use in Turkey.