Advanced Sternal Closure to Prevent Dehiscence in Obese Patients

• Published in: The Annals of thoracic surgery Vol. 80; no. 4; pp. 1537 - 1539
• Main Authors: Kiessling, Arndt-H., Isgro, Frank, Weisse, Udo, Möltner, Andreas, Saggau, Werner, Boldt, Joachim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.10.2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiac Surgical Procedures - adverse effects; Cardiac Surgical Procedures - instrumentation; Cardiac Surgical Procedures - methods; Equipment Design; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; Middle Aged; Obesity; Obesity - complications; Prospective Studies; Sternum - surgery; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgery of the respiratory system; Surgical Wound Dehiscence - etiology; Surgical Wound Dehiscence - prevention & control; Treatment Outcome; 5; Human; Obesity; Closure; Sternum; Respiratory disease; Nutrition disorder; Patient; Thorax; Prevention; Treatment; Surgery; Dehiscence; Nutritional status
• ISSN: 0003-4975; 1552-6259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2004.04.050

Sternal dehiscence is a frequent complication after cardiac surgical procedures. The objective was to evaluate a novel method for advanced sternal closure compared with standard techniques for preventing sternal dehiscence. Our investigation comprised 100 patients with a body mass index above 32. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either advanced sternal closure with three stainless steel double wires or standard techniques with stainless steel single wires. The incidence of sternal refixation was 6 of 50 patients in the standard techniques group and 1 of 50 in the advanced sternal closure group during a follow-up period of 6 months.