Staphylococcus aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis: Description of two distinct acquisition pathways with different potential preventive approaches

ObjectiveDetermining the acquisition routes of infection is crucial to designing specific preventive approaches against Staphylococcus aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis.MethodsFrom 2002 to 2004, a nasal sample was obtained from patients before cardiac surgery. We collected clinical and microbiologic data of all episodes of S aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis. A case–control study (3:1) was performed to confirm the role of previous preoperative nasal colonization by S aureus as a risk factor for S aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis molecular analysis of nasal and surgical site S aureus isolates was performed to analyze their relatedness in each patient with poststernotomy mediastinitis and with other patients of the study cohort.ResultsS aureus nasal cultures were positive in 228 (15.9%) of 1432 patients: methicillin-susceptible S aureus in 222 (15.5%) and meticillin-resistant S aureus in 6 (0.4%). S aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis was diagnosed in 17 (1.2%) of 1432 patients: 9 (3.95%) of 228 in colonized patients versus 8 (0.66%) of 1204 in noncolonized patients (P < .0001). Seven of 9 patients (1.2%) with methicillin-susceptible S aureus had an identical isolate by pulsed field gel electrophoresis in preoperative nasal and surgical-site cultures, but no clonal relatedness was shown among the isolates from these 9 patients. None of the 8 patients with methicillin-resistant S aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis had an identical isolate by pulsed field gel electrophoresis in preoperative nasal and surgical-site cultures, and the same clone of methicillin-resistant S aureus was responsible for all these cases.ConclusionsNasal colonization often precedes methicillin-resistant S aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis, which suggests that decontamination is adequate for preventing methicillin-resistant S aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis, whereas hospital infection control measures seem to be the major factor for preventing methicillin-resistant S aureus poststernotomy mediastinitis.