POST-STERNOTOMY INFECTIOUS COMPLICATIONS: SURGICAL TREATMENT STRATEGY AND TACTICS

Abstract

Background. Postoperative sternal and mediastinal complications are relatively rare and constitute about 0.3–6.9 %. However, taking into account a larger number of heart surgeries, the incidence of sternal osteomyelitis and mediastinitis is inevitably on the rise. It is the practice to identify 2 types of complications in relation to the depth of tissue damage: superficial sternal wound infection (suture sinuses, subcutaneous abscesses, sternal osteomyelitis with the formation of sequestra) and deep sternal infection with the development of mediastinitis. The treatment of patients with post-sternotomy complications is long-term and expensive. Materials and methods. The results of treatment were studied in 95 patients with post-sternotomy infectious complications, including 46 (48.4 %) patients with superficial sternal infection and 49 (51.6 %) patients with deep sternal infection and development of mediastinitis. The role of vacuum therapy in treating infectious complications after sternotomy was assessed. The causes of poor treatment outcomes were analyzed. Results and discussion. Step 1 is aimed at abolishing an infectious process and involves necrectomy, lancing a phlegmon, removal of metallic ligatures, excision of sinus tracts, resection of the osteomyelitically changed sternum and ribs. At this step, current technologies were used to treat purulent wounds, by regularly carrying out bacteriological tests. Vacuum therapy was performed in 41 (43.2 %) patients to abolish a purulent sternal process in guidance. The mean time to plasty was 12–28 days. All the patients received etiotropic antibacterial therapy. The optimal variant of Step 2 was omentoplasty and the use of a strand of the greater omentum in combination with mesh prosthesis. The necessary conditions for achieving a successful result in patients with deep sternal infection are to observe the continuity of treatment and to timely propose indicators by the second step, which is achieved by the treatment of patients at a specialized health care institution where a whole package of therapeutic measures can be implemented. Conclusion. Attention should be concentrated on the treatment of patients with post-sternotomy infectious complications at a specialized department that deals with this problem and that can provide a comprehensive approach using up-to-date technologies both to manage purulent wounds and to accomplish the reconstructive and plastic stage. Vacuum therapy is the best way to prepare purulent sternal and mediastinal wounds for plastic surgery. The use of the greater omentum is not only a good procedure to treat anterior mediastinitis, but also a method to reinforce relatively satisfactorily the anterior chest wall.