Introduction:
Full median sternotomy is the preferred surgical approach for exposing the heart in cardiac surgery. The current standard method for sternotomy closure is wire circlage, usually referred to as the conventional technique [1]. Most surgical studies report that early sternotomy wound dehiscence occurs in heart surgery with an incidence from 0.5-10% [2]. Sternal wound dehiscence is defined as the instability and separation of both sternal halves with or without an open skin wound infection.
There are many methods for reconstruction of median sternotomy wound dehiscence in cardiac surgery, although the Robicsek technique is the most common [3]. The thermoreactive nitinol clips (TRNC) system is reported to be quite useful; however, it is not well established whether it can be used routinely instead of established methods, such as the Robicsek technique [4].
In this study, we conducted a retrospective review of patients at our institution with noninfectious sternal dehiscence (NISD) after median sternotomy who received TRNC treatment during a 10-year period. We compared TRNC patients with and without history of failed Robicsek repair. Our aim was to analyze the impact of previous Robicsek repair on the treatment of sternal dehiscence with TRCN.