Background: Adult cardiovascular surgery entails, in many cases, the use of some kind of prosthesis.
Among the potential complications, prosthetic device infection is one of the most devastating
in incidence, as well as in prognosis and damage to surrounding tissues.
Results: The most common bacterial agents in vascular and cardiac prosthetic device infections
are Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis among gram-positive bacteria and Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa among gram-negative bacteria.
Conclusion: The alternative modalities of treatment for prosthetic device infection encompass
partial or total explantation of the prosthesis and its replacement with an infection-resistant
graft (e.g., homologous tissue, autologous tissue, or synthetic prosthesis bonded with
antibiotics).
