BACKGROUND Delayed sternal closure (DSC) is a management strategy for hemodynamic instability and severe coagulopathy after complex congenital heart surgery. We hypothesized that DSC results in better outcomes than perioperative sternal reopening. METHODS We reviewed patients aged < 18 years old undergoing cardiac surgery 2007-2017 at our institution. A total of 179 patients (3.8%) had primary DSC (PDSC, sternum left open after initial operation) and 45 patients (0.9%) had secondary DSC (SDSC, sternum closed primarily and reopened perioperatively). Perioperative characteristics and outcomes among PDSC 52 days (98 patients), PDSC > 2 days (81 patients), and SDSC (45 patients) were analyzed. RESULTS Median age was 120 days (range, 3-6553 days) and median DSC duration was 2 days (range, 1-60 days). The PDSC > 2 days group was the youngest group, and the distribution of procedures was different between groups. Indications for DSC were hemodynamic instability in 152 patients (67.9%) and severe coagulopathy in 33 patients (14.7%), with no difference between groups (P = .141). Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use was higher in the PDSC > 2 days group than the other groups (47.5% vs 7.1%, P < .01 and 47.5% vs 28.9%, P = .02), respectively. Operative mortality was higher in SDSC compared to the other groups (17.8% vs 0% for PDSC 52 and 6.2% for PDSC > 2 days, P < .01). Hospital stay was longer in SDSC (57 +/- 7 days) than PDSC 52 days (22 +/- 5 days) and PDSC > 2 days (44 +/- 6, P = .01). Survival was better in PDSC regardless of duration than SDSC. CONCLUSIONS PDSC demonstrated better outcomes than SDSC. Sternal reopening can be life-saving, but, when anticipated, PDSC can yield better outcomes. (c) 2022 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
