Mediastinitis:
Below is the pre-discharge post-op frontal chest radiograph on a patient that had undergone median-sternotomy for coronary artery bypass grafting. The patient presented 3 weeks later with complaints of fever. A follow-up chest radiograph was performed and demonstrated no infiltrates, but a coned view of the sternal wires demonstrates migration of the 3rd sternal wire from the top- an early indication of mediastinitis. Unfortunately, this finding was not appreciated at the time the radiograph was performed and two days later the patient presented with complete sternal dehiscence.
