title: Deep sternal wound complications: an overview of old and new therapeutic options.
abstract: Deep sternal wound complications represent a significant problem in current open heart surgery and still pose a tremendous challenge to surgeons. Over the years, many treatment modalities have been proposed, but only few found their way into daily clinical practice of cardiothoracic surgeons. A gold standard has not been defined yet. This review was designed to give an overview of the preferred surgical strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Medical Center, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Leopold
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rupprecht
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Medical Center, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christof
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmid
keywords: VAC therapy; mediastinitis; sternal plate fixation; sternal wound infection