Internal thoracic artery: sternal branches and their importance in thoracic surgery

ABSTRACT

In surgical myocardial revascularization using both ITAs occurs a decrease in blood supply to the sternum andit is one of the causes of postoperative mediastinitis. Our study focused the sternal branches, from these ITAs,which are responsible for maintaining blood supply of the sternum after bilateral use of internal thoracic arteryin myocardial revascularization. 60 internal faces of the anterior chest wall were dissected and formaldehydepreserved. The study consisted of 28 females and 32 males, the trunks and their branches were measuredand photographed and statistical tests were applied. The most dissected sternal trunks found in 120 internalthoracic artery were the intercostal/sternal and the perforating/sternal. The preservation of these trunks isneeded to prevent any disorder of the sternum.