The relationship between clinical indicators of peripheral perfusion and global hemodynamics after cardiac surgery was examined in 40 adults. We found no significant relationship between capillary refill, pedal pulses, or extremity (toe or finger) core temperature gradients and cardiac index (CI) or systemic vascular resistance index immediately after surgery on the day of operation. However, on the first postoperative day we did observe a crude (r = -.60) correlation between CI and toe-core temperature gradient.