Post-cardiotomy open chest management. A single-unit experience

Post-cardiotomy open chest management is used either for salvage or as a planned therapeutic option in patients with low cardiac output, hemorrhage, or intractable arrhythmias. We reviewed our experience with these patients.

Over a 3-year period, 2534 adult cardiac patients were operated on and 35 (1.4%) had delayed sternal closure. The median age was 72 years (range 46-86 years) and mean logistic EuroSCORE I was 11.29 (range 1.33-84.99). The patients were divided into two groups: group A (22/35, 62.9%) left the operating room without sternal closure due to hemodynamic instability after coming off cardiopulmonary bypass; group B (13/35, 37.1%) had a resternotomy and sternal closure was delayed due to acute deterioration in the cardiac intensive care unit.

The median intensive care unit stay was 17 days (range 2-70 days). Mortality was 25.7% (9 patients). All survivors were followed-up for at least 2 years, with a 2-year survival rate of 57.1%. Overall mortality was broadly similar in both groups. There was a high rate of postoperative complications in both groups, including chest sepsis (77%), liver failure (14.3), renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy (42.9%), sternal wound infection (28.6%), gut ischemia (2.9%), cerebrovascular accident (11.4), and multiorgan failure (31.4%).

Some may argue that open chest management is an acceptable salvage procedure, however, follow-up demonstrated significant adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular events in a short period following discharge, thus delayed sternal closure is really a salvage procedure but useful in centers without access to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.