Extensive suprasternal dehiscence reconstruction with NPWT and advancement flaps following cardiac surgery

Treatment of suprasternal wound infection (SSWI) following cardiac surgery is not a clearly developed procedure. We report our female patient’s secondary SSWI treatment following bypass surgery. An obese female patient with unstable angina underwent an urgent, uneventful off-pump coronary artery bypass operation. An SSWI appeared within a week. After negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), the sternum was rewired. In the previously irradiated territory of the left breast necrosis formed, a plastic surgeon reconstructed a defect. This procedure failed NPWT was restarted again, and a secondary reconstructive plastic surgery intervention was necessary. Despite extensive tissue mobilization, the central part of the reconstructive area necrotized, and we had to cover it with a split thickness skin mash graft. The irradiation therapy increases the incidence of suprasternal and/or sternal infection. It was possible to manage large soft tissue defects with bilateral and rotational advancement flaps.