DIRECT VISUALISATION OF THE BEATING HEART IN VIVO IN AN OVINE MODEL

Abstract

Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania, Australia Introduction.Autologousplatelet gelhasbeenusedsuccessfully to heal diabetic and venous ulcers. No study has been done on wound healing in cardiac surgery. Our aim is to significantly reduce wound infection by application of platelet gel. Methods. A prospective study. Forty high infection risk patients were divided into equal control and gel groups. All had a mix of CAGS, valve surgery or a combination of both. 52mL of the patient’s blood was drawn pre-op, concentrated into a platelet gel using theMagellan device and was sprayed on sternum± conduit site in the gel group. All sternal wounds (n= 40) were followed including a mix of radial and vein harvest wounds giving a wound population of 71 (nw=71). Follow-up was to evaluate wound healing over a 90-day period. All patients had blood taken for procalcitonin pre-op and on days 2 and 6 post-op for early bacterial infection. Results.Total infection rate inpatientpopulation (n= 40) was 27.5%. Eleven patients had infected wounds, nine of 3. Olsen MA, Sundt TM, Lawton JS, Damino Jr RJ, HopkinsBroyles D, Lock-Buckley P, et al. Risk factors for leg harvest surgical site infections infections after coronary bypass graft surgery. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;126:992–9.