ABSTRACT
Objective To examine the impact of vacuum sealing drainage on clinical outcomes of patients with post-sternotomy mediastinitis after cardiac surgery. Methods A systematic search were performed in Cochrane Library, Pubmed, Embase, China Biology Medicine(CBM), WanFang, VIP database. The quality of articles was critically appraised and data were extracted by 2 reviewers independently. Meta-analysis were conducted for the eligible researches. Results Fourteen cohort studies were inclued finally. Patients treated with VSD had significantly lower in-hospital mortalityand lower re-infection compared to those treated without VSD. While there had no significant defferences in length of ICU stay(days) and in-hospital stay (days) between VSD group and control group. Conclusions VSD therapy was associated with lower re-infection and in-hospital mortality than other conventional methods in patients with post-sternotomy mediastinitis after cardiac surgery and those results should be further tested in future research and practice.