Background: European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) is one of the scoring systems used to predict postoperative mortality before cardiac operations. We aimed to investigate applicability and adequacy of EuroSCORE in Turkish patient population.

Methods: We prospectively used EuroSCORE system for risk scoring in our consecutive cardiac surgery patients. A total of 320 patients (216 male, 104 female) with a mean age of 54.9 ± 12.6 years were included. Coronary artery bypass grafting operation was done in 225 patients (Group 1), and 95 patients had valvular operations (Group 2). Patients were allocated to risk groups as follows: 179 low-risk patients (mean risk score: 0.99 ± 0.84), 115 intermediate-risk patients (mean risk score: 3.79 ± 0.79) and 26 high-risk patients (mean risk score: 6.58 ± 0.93).

Results: Predicted and actual mortality in all patients were 2.53 ± 1.63 and 3.75 (p = 0.376), respectively. Corresponding figures were as follows for specific risk groups: low-risk patients 1.38% ± 0.24 and 1.67% (p = 1), intermediate-risk patients 2.83% ± 0.8 and 4.35% (p = 0.722), high-risk patients 6.48% ± 1.55 and 15.38% (p = 0.668). When risk scores were analyzed in terms of operation type, predicted and actual mortality were 2.51 ± 1.74 and 3.11 (p = 1) for Group 1, and 2.29 ± 1.64 and 5.26 (p = 0.721) for Group 2, respectively. Area under the curve of ‘Receiver Operating Characteristic’ was 0.767 in all patients, 0.749 in Group 1 and 0.808 in Group 2.

Conclusion: When predicted and actual mortality rates are analyzed, EuroSCORE scoring system seems to be an appropriate and easily applicable system for coronary artery bypass grafting and valvular operations in Turkish patient population.

Keywords : Cardiac surgery, EuroSCORE, mortality, risk scoring system