Infectious erosion of aorta ascendens during vacuum-assisted therapy of mediastinitis.

Sternal wound infection is a potentially life-threatening complication after cardiac surgery. With the vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) system a relatively new treatment option is available, with encouraging results and few complications. However, fatal right ventricular rupture for mechanical reasons has been reported. We report the case of a 34-year-old patient with life-threatening bleeding due to infectious erosion of the aorta ascendens during VAC therapy of mediastinitis after cardiac surgery. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of infectious erosion (i.e. not VAC-related) of cardiovascular structures during running vacuum-assisted therapy.