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[Sterno-mediastinitis after heart transplantation. An easy treatment: irrigation-lavage]
B Albat1, E Picard, D Boulfroy
1Service de Chirurgie Thoracique et Cardio-Vasculaire, C.H.R. Aiguelongue Montpellier.
Agressologie: Revue Internationale De Physio-Biologie Et De Pharmacologie Appliquees Aux Effets De L'Agression
|January 1, 1992
Abstract:
After cardiac transplantation bacterial mediastinitis is a severe early complication. Between 1986 and 1990, we performed 49 cardiac transplantations. Six patients developed purulent mediastinitis. Treatment consisted in surgical debridement, local irrigation, drainage and systemic antibiotics. No patient died of this bacterial mediastinitis. Low cardiac output, re-sternotomy for bleeding, prolonged artificial ventilation were significantly higher in the group with sternal infection. Closed tube irrigation is a simple and efficient treatment of mediastinitis.