Delayed sternal closure is a life saving decision.

Nineteen hundred and fifty open heart operations were performed between January 1995 and December 2000 at the cardiac surgery department of Chest Disease Hospital in Kuwait. Sternal closure was delayed in 40 patients (2%), because of hemodynamic instability limiting primary closure in 23 patients and uncontrollable bleeding in 17 patients. Four patients died in the immediate postoperative period while the chest was open, due to persistent low cardiac output secondary to myocardial failure. The sternum was closed in 36 patients on an average of 22 +/- 0.3 hours (range, 8 to 48 hours) postoperatively. Two patients died in the late postoperative period prior to hospital discharge after sternal closure. Wound infections occurred in 8 patients. The 34 survivors (85%) were discharged and followed up for a mean of 13.2 months. This study demonstrates that delayed sternal closure is an effective and life saving decision with unstable hemodynamics and uncontrollable hemorrhage.