A young woman with nonthymomic myasthenia gravis with failure of medical treatment was offered thymectomy through partial sternotomy. Shifting of vertical arm of "L" incision laterally avoids fracture of opposite sternal flange and provides better sternal stability postoperatively.

OBJECTIVES Deep sternal wound infection is a severe complication after cardiac surgery. Insufficient antibiotic target site concentrations may account for variable success of perioperative prophylaxis. Therefore, we measured perioperative penetration of cefazolin and of linezolid into sternal cancellous bone after sternotomy in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients by in vivo microdia...

OBJECTIVE Sternal dehiscence after median sternotomy can be a challenging problem in case of multiple fractures or infection. The use of titanium plates is a promising approach for sternal reconstruction. METHODS Titanium plate fixation was used in 15 patients (67+/-5.9 years, 171+/-8.2 cm, 93.6+/-14.9 kg, body mass index 32+/-5 kg/m(2)) with unstable thorax after failed attempts of sternal c...

BACKGROUND Sternal fractures are relatively rare, and caused mainly by blunt anterior chest wall trauma. In most cases, sternal fractures are treated conservatively. However, if the patient exhibits problematic symptoms such as intractable chest wall pain or bony crepitus due to sternal instability, surgical correction is indicated. But no consensus exists regarding the most appropriate surgica...

Patient: Male, 60 Final Diagnosis: Iatrogenic intercostal lung hernia Symptoms: - Medication: No medication Clinical Procedure: Surgically cerrected Specialty: Thoracic surgery. OBJECTIVE Unusual clinical course. BACKGROUND Iatrogenic intercostal lung hernia is a rare thoracic pathology. Injury of...

Objective Deep sternal wound infection following coronary artery bypass grafting is a serious complication associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite the substantial impact of deep sternal wound infection, there is a lack of specific risk stratification tools to predict this complication after coronary artery bypass grafting. This study was undertaken to develop a specific pro...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to describe the variable age-related normal appearance of the sternal area on bone scintigraphy. METHODS We studied 334 patients (158 males and 176 females) aged 15 days to 85 years, mean age 32.5 +/- 19.9 years, who did not have symptoms associated with the sternum and chest wall or a history of malignancy. All patients underwent whole-body bone scan 3 h...