Successful Reconstruction of a Lower Chest Wall Defect with Delayed Fungal Deep Sternal Wound Infection following a Blast Injury in South Korea: A Case Report

Abstract

Although blast injuries have been considered a problem unique to military practice or warfare, accidental civilian blast-related injuries due to misplaced landmines have been reported in South Korea. A 71-year-old man was admitted to the emergency room due to multiple severe blast injuries after the detonation of an unknown explosive device. After shrapnel that penetrated the pericardium was removed via median sternotomy in an emergency operation, an extensive defect remained on the lower third of the anterior chest wall. After debriding the contaminated wound several times, chest wall reconstruction with a skin-paddled vertical rectus abdominis muscle (VRAM) flap was successfully performed. However, the patient presented a delayed fungal infection of the deep sternal wound 28 days postoperatively. To salvage the previous flap, antifungal agents were administered and negative-pressure wound therapy was performed between serial radical debridement. The previous flap was successfully salvaged with infection control, and the final defect was covered by re-rotating the previous flap. This case presents the successful reconstruction of a chest wall defect using a skin-paddled VRAM flap notwithstanding a delayed sternal wound infection from a rare civilian blast injury in South Korea.