[Treatment of recurrent traumatic sternomediastinitis after cardiac surgery]. / Lechenie retsidivnogo travmaticheskogo sternomediastenita posle kardiokhirurgicheskikh operatsii.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the possibilities of omentoplasty for prevention of complications after redo sternum osteosynthesis for traumatic rupture. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 53 patients with recurrent sternal diastasis. Greater omentum was additionally implanted in 19 (35.8%) cases to improve healing and reduce the risk of infectious complications. In 34 patients, redo osteosynthesis was carried out using a metal wire and deployment of irrigation-aspiration system. In 19 patients, omentoplasty was additionally used to close the wound. RESULTS: Omentoplasty was characterized by less duration of lavage (7.4±1.5 vs. 4.2±3.3 days, p<0.0001) and no cases of arrosive bleeding (p=0.04). CONCLUSION: Omentoplasty reduces duration of treatment and risk of arrosive bleeding.

[Negative pressure wound therapy for deep sternal wound infections: microbiological characteristics and antibiotic resistance]. / Vliyanie vakuum-assistirovannoi povyazki na lechenie glubokoi infektsii grudiny: bakteriologicheskii analiz i antibiotikorezistentnost'.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate bacterial flora in patients with deep sternal wound infection and the effect of negative pressure wound therapy on eradication of the pathogen. MATERIAL AND METHODS: There were 102 patients with deep wound infection after cardiac surgery. Mean age was 66.9±9.9 years. Diabetes mellitus was detected in 21 (20.5%) cases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - in 15 (14.7%). Wound debridement via daily dressings was performed in 64 patients; vacuum-assisted dressings were applied in 38 patients. Bacteriological analysis of discharge was carried out every week.Results. Mixed infection was observed in 38 (37.3%) patients. S.aureus was the most common pathogen (n=51, 50%), Gram negative bacteria were found in 36 (35.3%) patients. Negative pressure wound therapy ensured eradication of S.aureus within 3 weeks while dressings were associated with only 40% decrease of the incidence of positive analyses (p<0.05). Effectiveness of the method was not obtained for Gram negative bacteria. CONCLUSION: Negative pressure wound therapy accelerates eradication of Gram positive pathogens but does not affect eradication of Gram negative microbes.

Distribution of naturally occurring radioactivity and ¹³7Cs in the marine sediment of Farasan Island, southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia.

The present work is a part of a project dedicated to measure the marine radioactivity near the Saudi Arabian coasts of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf for establishing a marine radioactivity database, which includes necessary information on the background levels of both naturally occurring and man-made radionuclides in the marine environment. Farasan Islands is a group of 84 islands (archipelago), under the administration of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the Red Sea with its main island of Farasan, which is 50 km off the coast of Jazan City. The levels of natural radioactivity of (238)U, (235)U, (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K and man-made radionuclides such as (137)Cs in the grab sediment and water samples around Farasan Island have been measured using gamma-ray spectroscopy. The average activity concentrations of (238)U, (235)U, (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs in the sediment samples were found to be 35.46, 1.75, 3.31, 0.92, 34.34 and 0.14 Bq kg(-1), respectively.