ARTICLE SUMMARY:
The standard method for sternal closure hasn’t advanced in 50 years, but today’s heart surgery patients are more complicated. Figure 8 Surgical aims to help avoid complications with a primary closure device that improves upon steel wire.
A patient undergoing open heart surgery requires a sternotomy procedure so the surgeon can access the heart. The sternum, the t-shaped bone that connects to the rib cage to help protect the heart and lungs, is sawed (or cracked) vertically down the middle into two halves to create an opening to the heart, and after the procedure, the two parts of the sternum must be fixed securely together so the bone can heal.
