MEDIASTINITIS - DIAGNOSIS, RISK-FACTORS A ND TREATMENT

The authors review the literature concerning post-sternotomy mediastin itis. The incidence, mortality, diagnosis and risk factors are discuss ed, but above all, the various treatments are reviewed and compared wi th respect to their advantages and risks, their respective usefulness and results, in order to define a reasonable way of management of this highly pejorative surgical complication. Open technique, closed irrig ation and surgical flaps of omentum, pectoralis major and rectus abdom inis are successively considered.