What are the risk factors for injury during repeat sternotomy in patients undergoing cardiac reoperations?
Patients with multiple prior sternotomies, prior mediastinal radiotherapy, or patent internal thoracic artery grafts require particular attention to protective strategies during repeat sternotomy due to increased injury risk.
Particular attention to protective strategies should be considered during reoperative sternotomy among patients with multiple previous sternotomies, previous mediastinal radiotherapy, and those with patent internal thoracic artery grafts.
Park et al. (2010) studied this question.