Mediastinal wound infection and aortocoronary graft patency.

In our experience, eight of ten aortocoronary grafts in five patients remained patent in the face of mediastinal infection. Combining reports of seventeen other grafts from the literature, we conclude that patency can be anticipated in approximately 70 per cent of such grafts and that mediastinal infection does not necessarily adversely affect aortocoronary saphenous vein bypass graft patency. We recommend aggressive therapy of mediastinal infection in this setting due to the high survival rate which can be anticipated with modern methods of therapy, as well as the high probability of graft patency.