Background/aim: We sought to determine what factors cardiovascular complications (CVCs) correlate with in cancer patients with acute postoperative hypertension (APH) and to define when and how aggressively to treat this disorder in the present study. Materials and methods: A retrospective observational study of cancer patients with postoperative hypertension at a single intensive care unit between July 2007 and June 2013 was conducted. The outcome of interest was the incidence of a CVC. Results: There were 1162 patients enrolled, of which 92 (7.9%) experienced one or more CVCs. Preexisting hypertension (OR 38.3, 95% CI 3.2-457.4, P = 0.004) and choice of vasodilator (OR 6.5, 95% CI 2.3-18.6, P = 0.000) were predictors of a CVC. Cardiovascular complications were less likely to occur if pain was relieved efficiently during the postoperative period (OR 15.9, 95% CI 1.9-130.1, P = 0.01). Furthermore, there were increased CVCs among patients with postoperative hypertensive crises compared to those with stage 1 or stage 2 hypertension with the treatment threshold for systolic blood pressure (OR 5.7, 95% CI 2.0-16.5, P = 0.001) or diastolic blood pressure (OR 6.0, 95% CI 1.8-20.3, P = 0.004). Conclusion: To reduce CVCs, APH may be defined and managed as a hypertensive crisis in cancer patients.