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Efficacy of antimicrobial activity of slow release silver nanoparticles dressing in post-cardiac surgery mediastinitis

Cardiac Surgery, Civic Hospital, Brescia, Italy

*Corresponding author. Via San Vincenzo 38, 20123 Milano, Italy. Tel.: +39 3498465085.

E-mail address: ptotaro{at}yahoo.com (P. Totaro).

We report our preliminary experience in post-cardiac surgery mediastinitis using a recently introduced silver-releasing dressing claiming prompt antibacterial activity. Acticoat^©, a silver nanoparticles slow release dressing was used in four patients with documented post-cardiac surgery mediastinitis and persistently positive microbiological cultures despite vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy. In all four patients negative cultures were obtained within a maximum of 72 h and patients were discharged within a maximum of 20 days.

Key Words: Cardiac surgery; Mediastinitis