Persistent chest pain due to sternal wire sutures: a complication of coronary artery bypass surgery

Disabling incisional pain weeks or months after coronary artery bypass surgery should prompt an investigation for a postmidsternotomy chest wall complication. Our patient had symptomatic relief after the removal of a painful sternal wire suture. Prompt recognition of this delayed chest wall complication, which can be confused with cardiac pain, may obviate a more lengthy and costly evaluation.