OBJECTIVE Open chest management (OCM) after cardiac surgery is a therapeutic option in the treatment of the severely impaired heart. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the incidence, survival and predictors of poor outcome for OCM with delayed sternal closure (DSC), particularly with regard to parameters to determine the time of closure. METHODS Prolonged open chest was used in 212 o...

Introduction: There is a strong suggestion that an impairment of vascular supply the sternum may be one most important factors influencing incidence deep sternal wound infection (DSWI). Several studies have studied risk for SSIs including DSWI in cardiac surgery. Methods: All patients who are presented to Assiut University Heart Hospital need Coronary artery Bypass Grafting from 1st January, 20...

Mediastinitis is treated with either vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) or traditional closed drainage (TCD) with irrigation. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of the two treatments on mortality and re-infection rate in a source population, using 21 314 consecutive patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) from January 1997 to October 2010. Median observation...

The management of sternal wound complications after median sternotomy has been revolutionized by aggressive debridement protocols and muscle flap transposition (1). The potentially lethal sequela of cardiac surgery has focused the attention of plastic surgeons almost exclusively on refinements in treating such chest wounds (1,2). According to the National Cardiac Surgery Database (1994), deep s...

Median sternotomy is the most commonly used incision in cardiothoracic procedures. Development of breast abscess after sternotomy is a very rare situation. We present a case of sternal wound infection with recurrent bilateral breast abscess after sternotomy. Our case is the first and only case in the literature due to the presence of sternal wound infection with recurrent bilateral breast absce...