title: Exposed prosthesis of a complex reconstruction of the ascending aorta and aortic arch in a sternal wound infection: Successful treatment by a pectoral muscle flap.
abstract: A local wound infection developed in a 42-year-old female patient after replacement of ascending aorta, aortic arch and supra-aortic vessels, following aortic dissection. Because of the high risk of infection due to the vascular prosthesis and its location at the upper part of the sternum, a right pectoral muscular flap, detached from the humerus and vascularized by medial perforators originating from the internal mammary artery, was isolated. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient remains well 16 months after the operation.
authors.affiliation: Service de Chirurgie Cardiaque, CHU Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Chavanon
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thony
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lebeau
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000601:surgery*; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004954:Esthetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010369:Pectoralis Muscles / Q000637:transplantation*; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D013249:Sternum / Q000601:surgery; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology