1 of 2 DESCRIPTION The incidence of mediastinal wound infection in patients undergoing open heart surgery can be up to 4%. 1 A subgroup of 20–30% of those patients as per El Oakley and Wright 2 develops deep sternal infections. Radical debridement is of a paramount importance, therefore sternal excision becomes a necessity in cases with severe sternal osteomyelitis. Under those circumstances va...

OBJECTIVE To identify risk factors for sternal wound infection following coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), and to compare early and mid-term survival outcome. METHODS Data were prospectively collected for 4228 patients who underwent CABG surgery between April 1997 and March 2001. One hundred and nine (2.6%) patients developed sternal wound infection. We used logistic regression to identi...

sternal non-:union: is a severe complication of sternotomy closure following open heart surgeries. healing problems typically occur in 0.3% to 5% of patients. technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (99mtc-mdp) bone scintigraphy has been used to assess bone non:union: to predict the healing response for proper management.  in this report, we present the case of a marked sternal non:union: follow...

sternal non-union is a severe complication of sternotomy closure following open heart surgeries. healing problems typically occur in 0.3% to 5% of patients. technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (99mtc-mdp) bone scintigraphy has been used to assess bone nonunion to predict the healing response for proper management.  in this report, we present the case of a marked sternal nonunion following...

Malignant bone tumors of the chest wall and sternum are more rare because most bone tumors occur in the long bones or joints.Osteosarcoma (OS) is a malignant bone tumor that occurs in the second or third decade of life. The men/women ratio is about 3:2 and half of the tumors occur near the knee. The most commonly occurring malignant tumor in sternum is chondrosarcoma and occurrence of osteosarc...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES The aim of our study was to identify risk factors for the development of post-sternotomy mediastinitis and sternal dehiscence without infection. PATIENTS AND METHOD The records of all patients who presented with sternal abnormalities between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2003 were reviewed retrospectively, and potential risk factors were examined. Patients were ...

Background. Ministernotomy incisions have been increasingly used in a variety of settings. We describe a novel approach to ministernotomy using arrowhead incision and rigid sternal fixation with a standard sternal plating system. Methods. A small, midline, vertical incision is made from the midportion of the manubrium to a point just above the 4th intercostal mark. The sternum is opened in the ...