Combined Air-plasma Flow and Nitric Oxide Therapy in Cardiac Surgery

One of the most common and serious complications in cardiovascular surgery is sternal wound infection. According to many authors, the incidence of infectious complications after sternotomy ranges from 0.4% to 15% . Superficial infection of the anterior chest wall after median sternotomy occurs in 0.4-15% . Typically, this complication is detected within the first two weeks (on average, about seven days). The most formidable wound infectious complication is mediastinitis. According to various authors, the incidence of mediastinitis varies from 1 to 3%. Mortality in this group of patients reaches 39% . Until now, the only effective and generally accepted method for treating patients with mediastinitis has been antibiotic therapy in combination with surgical intervention. The options for antibiotic therapy remain generally accepted and their effectiveness is not discussed, however, there are many options for various types of surgical treatment. Their main principle is to perform resternotomy, necrosectomy, followed by reosteosynthesis of the sternum and the installation of permanent irrigation and aspiration, flow-through drainage. Despite this, the mortality rate in this pathology remains invariably high. In this regard, issues related to the development of new medical technologies, methods for prevention and treatment of infectious wound complications do not lose their relevance at the present time.

During the study, it is supposed to use an original method developed for the prevention, as well as for the treatment of wound infectious complications.

The advantage of the investigator's proposed original method of treating mediastinitis is in the combined effect of thermal (air-plasma flow) and biochemical (effect of NO on wound surfaces) by stimulating the processes of regeneration and repair.

Also, for obvious reasons, resistance cannot arise to it, which is relevant in the context of the widespread transmission of nosocomial infections, especially in large hospitals, such as modern cardiology dispensaries.

As a result of the work, the cases of infectious wound complications in the early postoperative period, the total number of bed-days spent, the time spent in the ICU, the duration of mechanical ventilation, laboratory parameters: red blood cell count, coagulation system, markers of infection and inflammation, state of sepsis, determination of how fast the bone tissue reparation is, CT scan of the chest, sternum, examination of the bacterial flora and bacterial contamination of the postoperative wound will be assessed.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients who underwent heart and great vessels surgery with confirmed laboratory, bacteriological, instrumental tests, as well as the presence of clinical signs of sterno-mediastinitis.
• Signed informed consent to participate in the study

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who underwent heart and great vessels surgery not through a median sternotomy.
• Patients who have signs of inconsistency of sutures or any other wound complications, but there are no clinical, laboratory, bacteriological data indicating infection of the postoperative wound.
• No informed consent to participate in the study.