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However, while there are plans to develop a European model for estimating the risk of major comorbidities, at present EuroSCORE provides an estimated risk for mortality only. In the UK, the EuroSCORE has been validated as a reliable tool for predicting risk in the British population. Using 67 demographic and operative parameters, the STS risk tool calculates predicted mortality, as well as estimating a number of other comorbidities including DSWIs. It was developed from a multicentre database of over 100 000 index procedures in the USA and calculates the risk for coronary artery bypass grafting, valve procedures and combined cases. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) risk score is, perhaps, the most well-established risk calculator for cardiac surgery in the world. Postoperative complications contributing to DSWI included prolonged ventilation, inotropic support, reoperation for bleeding and the need for blood products. Intraoperatively, length of surgery and the use of internal mammary arteries-both single and bilateral-were implicated.
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Preoperative risk factors included diabetes, renal failure, smoking, sex, age, reoperation, morbid obesity, breast size, steroid use and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Early retrospective studies identified a significant number of factors that might be involved in the aetiology of the condition. They produce significant and prolonged morbidity and are associated with an increase in both short- and long-term mortalities. Statistics, Risk analysis/modelling, Complications, Sternum, Infection INTRODUCTIONÄeep sternal wound infections (DSWIs) remain an uncommon but devastating complication of cardiac surgery, affecting 0.4–5% of procedures performed via median sternotomy.