My wife suffered a massive stroke 3 days after colon surgery.what likely happened to cause it?

Hello. Thank you for posting.

Your wife's doctor(s) knows the specifics of her condition, so you need to ask him or her. I can give you some general information.

Any type of surgery poses a series of possible risks and possible complications. Surgeries related to cardiology, neurology and pulmonary conditions run a much higher risk than others. Stroke is an abrupt interruption of constant blood flow to the brain that causes loss of neurological function. Risk factors for perioperative stroke include advanced age, female gender, obesity, high blood pressure, smoking, peripheral vascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and high cholesterol. For most surgeries, the risk of perioperative stroke is less than 1 percent. But the risk can be as high as 5 percent for surgeries for head and neck tumors and between 2 and 10 percent for various heart surgeries.

The most common cause of perioperative stroke is blood clots. Blood thinners can reduce the risk of strokes, but can increase the risk of bleeding. Managing surgery patients, physicians must balance the risk of stroke versus the risk of significant bleeding complications.

Some information here as well.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-surgery-heart-risks/even-after-noncardiac-surgery-heart-attacks-and-strokes-may-be-a-risk-idUSKBN14O20O

Helena