Cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) provokes a systemic inflammatory response that can often lead to dysfunction of major organs. Activation of the contact system, endotoxemia, surgical trauma, and ischemic reperfusion injury are all possible triggers of inflammation. Previous studies demonstrated that pro-inflammatory cytokines play an important role during this process. However, very little is known about the susceptibility of the splanchnic organs to ischemic reperfusion injury. Although the incidence of intestinal complications reported to be low, the in-hospital mortality in these patients was high at 15% to 63%.