Is Sternum Infection Possible?

tandy · Newbie Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 5

I am concerned for my husband. He is 44 years old and he is preparing himself for the heart surgery that will take place next week. I am not that well informed about what exactly surgeons will do, they called it myocardial revasculization with the use of internal mammary arteries. Our friend told us that his wife had a similar problem and that everything went ok, except for the possibility of Sternum Infection. Is Sternum Infection Possible?

ursula · Newbie Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 6

Well, you do know that every surgery carries with it certain percentage of risk, including complications during procedure and post op problems. I will just tell you several statistics from surgeries performed on 750 patients from 1994 to 2002. Forty-four patients had problems with developed sternal wound. Of these 44, 22 had sternal infection. 15 of them had mediastinitis. So, 44 patients is around 5.9% percent, which is a small percentage so I guess you should not worry about that much.

Is Sternum Infection Possible?

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