Primary sternal osteomyelitis is a rare clinical entity generally caused by Staphylococcus aureus or Pseudomonas aeruginosa.Although rare it carries significant morbidity including spread to mediastinal structures and even mortality. Diagnosis is generally made on clinical suspicion in a patient with and anterior chest pain and swelling, fever and raised inflammatory markers. Management is gene...

Objective: The exquisite bone detail offered by computed tomography makes it the ideal modality for evaluation of bone healing. However, few studies have investigated the normal computed tomographic appearance of the sternum after median sternotomy and, to the best of our knowledge, no computed tomographic classification of sternal healing has been proposed. Given the potential benefit of objec...

BACKGROUND The main objective of this study will be to determine the effects of a new advanced sternum external fixation (Stern-E-Fix) corset on prevention of sternal instability and mediastinitis in high-risk patients. METHODS This prospective, randomized study (January 2009 - June 2011) comprised 750 male patients undergoing standard median sternotomy for cardiac procedures (78% CABG). Pati...

A three day old neonate was referred to our department with a problem of a sternal cleft. Sternal clefts are often associated with a myriad of other abnormalities ranging from mild to severe. We present our experience with such a problem, and review the current literature concerning it.

OBJECTIVE We sought to assess the efficiency of two different sternal closure techniques in preventing sternal wound instability in high-risk patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between January 2009 and February 2012, 2068 consecutive cardiac patients were prospectively collected in our database. The 561 patients in whom the thermoreactive nitilium clips (Flexigrip) have been used (group A) were ...

BACKGROUND Sternal wound infection is a devastating complication of cardiothoracic surgery that carries high postoperative morbidity and mortality rates. We explored whether our current program of extensive bacteriological examination including repeat blood cultures may contribute to the early diagnosis of sternal wound infection. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed 112 patients who were subj...

Different ways to stabilize a sternal fracture are described in literature. Respecting different mechanisms of trauma such as the direct impact to the anterior chest wall or the flexion-compression injury of the trunk, there is a need to retain each sternal fragment in the correct position while neutralizing shearing forces to the sternum. Anterior sternal plating provides the best stability an...

Desmoid tumors are rare soft tissue tumors derived from fascia and connective tissue of the muscular layers. The abdominal region is the most frequent site of involvement, whereas involvement of sternal manubrium is rare. We report the case of a rare desmoid tumor in the sternal manubrium mimicking radiological and metabolic features of malignant tumor, which was successfully treated by sternal...

Background Sternal fracture is uncommon injury following blunt chest trauma. They are usually caused by direct blunt trauma to the sternum, or most frequently car accident, including steering wheel direct blunt trauma to the sternum. Sternal fracture should be regarded as a hallmark of severe multiple injuries until proven otherwise. The purpose of this study was to describe general features co...