Introduction:

Mediastinitis after cardiovascular surgery gives rise to prolonged hospital stay and increased medical care costs, and is associated with high in-hospital mortality.

Objective:

To describe the clinical characteristics of patients with post-surgical mediastinitis, including the isolated microorganisms, resistance profile, and in-hospital survival.

Methods:

Cross-sectional study of patients with bacteriologically-confirmed post-surgical mediastinitis cared for at a cardiology hospital in Mexico City between January 2017 and March 2019.

Results:

Fifty-eight cases of mediastinitis were included. Median age was 67 years. Most subjects were males who underwent myocardial revascularization. During in-hospital follow-up, all-cause and mediastinitis-related mortality were 27.6% and 20.7%, respectively. Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli were the most commonly isolated microorganisms. High resistance to methicillin was found in coagulase-negative staphylococci, as well as high expression of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae strains.

Conclusions:

High mortality and significant antimicrobial resistance were found in patients with post-cardiac surgery mediastinitis.