treatment
Last reviewed 01/2018
Prompt surgical drainage of the mediastinum and pleural cavities with appropriate antibiotic therapy is required for acute mediastinitis.
Note that mediastinitis following cardiac surgery may be less fulminant. This is because there is already drainage from the sternotomy incision and the wound allows diagnosis and exploration to occur more readily.
Treatment involves surgical debridement and the establishment of adequate drainage with concomitant antibiotics therapy.