Comminuted sternal fracture -- a sternotomy wire fixation: report of 2 cases

Various techniques of sternal stabilization via either metal plates or wires have been described. We describe an alternative technique of simple median sternotomy followed by reduction and wire fixation of the sternal fracture. The 2 patients described in this report had traumatic comminuted and displaced sternal fractures. Even though wire repair was deemed to be tedious and achieved poor approximation of the bone, we performed median sternotomy and achieved simple wire fixation with an excellent result.