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Table 1. Demographics and operative characteristics
evaluation of long-term morbidity and mortality. Local
ethic committee approval was obtained for the protocol of
the application of TNP to the open chest in 2004.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS for Windows
(version 14, SPSS Inc. Chicago, USA). Continuous variables
are expressed as mean ± SD. Categorical variables are
presented as absolute numbers in addition to percentages.
Categorical data was compared by X 2 test and Fisher exact
test. Student´s t test or Mann-Whitney test were used to
compare continuous data. Survival was plotted using the
Kaplan-Meier method for all patients. A p-value of less
than 0.05 was considered significant. Analysis was based
on the intention-to-treat principle.
RESULTS
Comparing demographic and operative characteristics, no
significant differences were found between both groups
(Table 1). Likewise, comparable number of patients underwent
reopening of the chest for bleeding or cardiac
tamponade (12% vs. 8%, NS) in the intermediate postoperative
course, however, in the TNP group there was
a higher number of later chest revisions for mechanical
sternal instability prior to DSWI compared with the
CONV group (44% vs. 21%, p