Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2025
Normothermic Negative Pressure Ventilation Ex Situ Lung Perfusion: Evaluation of Lung Function and Metabolism
Published on: February 14, 2022
A case of multiple median sternotomy for infection and expanding hematoma in 10 years
Tomohiro Nakajima1, Yutaka Iba2, Tsuyoshi Shibata2
1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, South-1, West-16, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, 060-8543, Japan. t.nakajima@sapmed.ac.jp.
Background:
After a median sternotomy, mediastinitis may develop, necessitating reopening of the chest. Rarely, reoperation due to hematoma after cardiovascular surgery is experienced. In the present case, we experienced a patient who initially had mediastinitis, but later developed a chronic hematoma and underwent multiple surgeries.
Case Presentation:
The patient was a 40-year-old man who underwent aortic valve replacement for a bicuspid aortic valve and a graft for a dilated ascending aorta. Postoperatively, he developed hematoma in the anterior mediastinum on multiple occasions with repeated episodes of infection that required multiple median sternotomies.
Conclusions:
We reported our experience with a rare case of multiple median sternotomies. In the early stage, mediastinitis due to infection was observed, and in the late stage, mediastinal dilatation due to hemorrhage was observed.
