Introduction: Sternal wound infections after cardiac surgery still occur worldwide and in Slovenia, despite the preventive use of antibiotics, and negatively affect the patient outcome and also the economics of the health system. Coronary artery disease is among the most common causes of death in the world, and it is commonly treated with the method of surgical revascularization of the heart. The method of negative pressure wound therapy is used in surgery for a while, mostly for the treatment of infected surgical wounds. Increasingly the negative pressure is used as a prevention of closed surgical wound infections. Purpose: We wanted to explore and represent the effect of different risk factors on development of surgical wound infections after sternotomy after surgical revascularization of the heart, and to examine the effect of the negative pressure method on prevention of closed sternal surgical wound infections. Methods: Primary and secondary sources were analyzed for the empirical part. Retrospective study was performed on 592 patient, in which we have explored and with the method of logistic regression predicted the influence of factors on the development of wound infection after sternotomy after surgical revascularization of the heart. In the context of larger prospective study the pilot study on 53 patients was done, in which we examined the influence of negative wound pressure method on prevention of development of wound infection after sternotomy after surgical revascularization of the heart. Results: From all observed factors, body mass index (p = 0,043) and the operative time (p = 0,007) statistically significantly influenced on development of sternal surgical infections. Mortality and the occurrence of infection were not significantly associated (p = 0,211). In a pilot study, the two groups were almost statistically similar, the only difference between groups was in the presence of diabetes (p = 0,034). Results of a preliminary pilot study suggest that the type of surgical wound care does not affect the occurrence of wound infection after sternotomy (p = 0,745). Discussion and conclusion: In patients with higher number of grafts and consequently longer operative time and patients with increased body mass index, it would be reasonable to use a dressing with negative pressure for the prevention of surgical wound infection. The cost of negative pressure dressing would be minimal compared to the economic burden of the wound infections after sternotomy.
|