To evaluate the incidence of coronary artery disease in peripheral vascular surgery, three groups of patients (table. I) were studied retrospectively: 286 patients who had vascular surgery with no concern for the location of arterial lesions (group I); 130 patients electively operated for infra-renal abdominal aortic aneurysm (group II); and 120 patients who had 139 carotid endarterectomies (group III). The frequency of cardiac history (table II) evaluated in the three groups of patients, was respectively 42.6%, 41.4.% and 27.5%. Operative mortality in the three groups was respectively 6%, 3.8% and 1%. In group I, mortality of cardiac origin was 2.2% and cardiac morbidity 7%. In this group, analysis of results showed that the existence of cardiac history is a significant risk factor (table III) for the mortality and incidence of cardiac complications (p less than 0.005). In groups II et III, operative mortality of cardiac origin was respectively 1.5% and 0%; cardiac morbidity was respectively 4.6 and 2.2%. On the basis of this analysis, we can conclude that cardiac complications are the main cause of mortality and morbidity in peripheral vascular surgery and that the existence of cardiac history is a significant predictive factor in evaluation of operative risk in vascular surgery.