[Closure of sternotomy with Cotrel staplers]

The authors describe a new method for the closure of median sternotomies based on immediate compression with two or three Cotrel-Dubousset (CD) staples. This method was effective in a series of 100 patients. It was the curative treatment of septic sternal pseudarthrosis, and has been extended to high risk patients (age, severe sternal osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, chronic respiratory insufficiency) or when surgery requires resection of the internal mammary arteries (IMA).