Sternal wound infection after coronary artery bypass grafting using bilateral internal thoracic artery: prevention and management

Objective. To analyze the risk factors of sternal wound infection (SWI) complicating BITA grafting. Material and methods. A retrospective study included patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) using BITA grafts between January 2018 and March 2023. Patients were assigned to the diabetic (D) or non-diabetic (ND) groups. Results. The study involves 243 patients undergoing CABG. Morbid obesity was potential risk factor associated with SWI in both groups. The overall risk of SWI was insignificantly higher in the diabetic group (p=0.094). However, deep SWI was significantly more common in diabetic patients (p=0.012). In-hospital mortality associated with SWI was 5.6% and 8.8% in groups ND and D, respectively. There was no significant difference between patients who died with or without SWI in group ND (p=0.830). Conclusion. Morbid obesity was the major risk factor associated with SWIs after CABG using BITA grafts in patients with and without diabetes. Despite small sample size, our results suggest advisability of BITA even in diabetic population.