Commentary on the paper: “efficacy of a novel strategy for poststernotomy deep sternal infection after thoracic aorta replacement using a prosthetic graft”

Deep sternal wound infections and especially sternal osteomyelitis and mediastinitis in post cardiac surgery still remains a plastic surgical challenge because the reconstructive procedure is extremely intertwined with human physiology. This is in part due to the typically existing multiple co-morbidities in patients afflicted with this complication in addition to the thoracic defect. Since in most cases the thoracic vessels on either one or both sides have been harvested for cardiac revascularization there is the problem of a diminished local peristernal microcirculation 1 .