What Researchers Did
Researchers retrospectively reviewed 4,028 pediatric cardiac surgeries at a California hospital from 2001 to 2013, identifying 53 patients (1.62%) with sternal wound infections and describing their outcomes, including 16 who required negative pressure wound therapy and/or HBOT.
What They Found
48 of 53 infected patients (90.6%) fully healed their wounds. Time to healing for the HBO and HBO-plus-negative-pressure group averaged 43.75 days. Six patients died, from causes including respiratory failure and sepsis. No deaths were directly attributed to the wound infections.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
Sternal wound infections after pediatric heart surgery are serious but uncommon. This study supports HBOT as an effective component of a salvage protocol for the most complex infections in children. Canadian pediatric cardiac surgery centers should consider HBOT in their management algorithms for refractory sternal infections.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
This was a retrospective review with a combined HBO and negative pressure wound therapy group, making it impossible to determine the specific contribution of HBOT to healing outcomes.