Our goal is to reduce the risk of complications following cardiac surgery including sternal bone infection, mediastinitis, and sternal non-union. At the start of heart surgery for CABG or heart valve replacement, the sternal bone is cut and bone bleeding can be a problem, especially since the blood of the patient is thinned during the procedure. Bone wax is widely used to stop bleeding, but bone wax never goes away and it increases the risk of infection and prevents bone healing. Other alternatives are being used, but none are problem free.

Infection and non-union are a particularly important problem in cardiac surgery. According to the CDC, 646,000 open heart surgery procedures are performed in the US each year. According to the American Heart Association, the incidence of deep sternal wound infections was 1% to 5%, with a mortality rate of about 25%. The rest were subject to a complicated and costly recovery.

The only modifiable risk factors are the use of the bone hemostasis method and the use of bilateral internal mammary arteries.

Ostene is a water-soluble bone hemostasis material that is not know to have the complications attributed to bone wax.

Recent animal data has demonstrated that Ostene does not increase infection rates, does not interfere with bone healing, and is non-inflammatory (data available upon request).