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Managing Sternal Osteomyelitis with Antibiotic Bead Implantation

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery
¹ Department of Anesthesiology Far-Eastern Memorial Hospital Taipei, Taiwan

For reprint information contact: Cheng-Wei Lu, MD Tel: 886 2 8966 7000 Fax: 886 2 7738 6057 Email: drlin{at}ms4.hinet.net, Department of Anesthesiology, Far-Eastern Memorial Hospital, 21, Sec 2, Nan-Ya S. Road, Pan-Chiao, Taipei 220, Taiwan.

Early, aggressive debridement followed by closure with muscle flaps is thought to improve the resolution of deep sternal wound infection that occurs after sternotomy. However, persistently discharging sternal osteomyelitis remains difficult to resolve. We successfully treated 2 patients who developed deep sternal wound infection after cardiac surgery by combining one-stage debridement with implantation of gentamicin beads to fill up the evacuated bone marrow space. This approach provides a simple and effective solution for sternal osteomyelitis.