Sternal wire pain 15 years post surgery

I am posting to this forum rather than a neurology forum because my question is regarding thoracic surgery.  My son was diagnosed with severe general myasthenia gravis fifteen years ago when he was six years old.  He had a thymectomy at that time.  The thymectomy was done by sternotomy rather than by the less invasive procedure, and his sternum was closed with wire.  He is now twenty-one years old, and he is a 6’ 4” tall, young man weighing 210 pounds.  For the past year, he has been having chest pain centered on the sternum.  The family doctor has sent him for tests and said his heart is fine, and that the pain has no explanation and may be in his head.  I don’t think the doctor has considered that the sternal wires could be causing the pain.  A thymectomy at age six is fairly uncommon, but I was wondering if someone from this forum might have encountered delayed pain caused by sternotomy wires, since open heart surgery is performed on more young children as compared to thymectomy on young children.  Is it possible that the wires could be causing sternal pain because my son has grown so much since the wires were put in place?  If the wires are the possible source of his sternal pain, might this be sufficient reason to remove the wires?  Is removal of the wires a dangerous procedure?

[Douglas Bogart, MD]

If the pain can be reproduced by touching or rubbing the sternal area it could be related to the sternal wires.  The wires may have broken with your son's growth.  A front and side chest x-ray will tell if the wires are broken.  The wires can be removed and it would be a relatively low risk procedure.

[dar121]

I had Open heart Surgery and they used wire on my sternum to put it together, i recantly had a chest exray and it clearly showed a broken wire, Could this cause my pain in my back between my shoulder blades, and the pain in my chest. What's even more important I spent seven hours in the ER at a well know heart hospital that did the surgery, and they told me everything is ok, even after a host of test and exrays including a stress test. I went home with the sharp pain im my back and pains in my chest, are these people lying to me. What course of action should I take next, I need to get rid of this pain,I can't continue to live with this forever it's just to much to ask. I need some sugestions please.

dar121

[Amandab123]

A related discussion, Broken Surgical wire 6 months after a sternotomy was started.

[FranNatick]

A related discussion, Fractured Sternum Wires was started.

[Rachmw77]

I am a 33 year old female and I have a non displaced fracture of the outer cortex of the sternum resulting from a car accident I was in on April 24, 2010. It is now November. I had another ct scan yesterday and it showed that the fracture has not healed at all. My doctor says it's stable, but because of the amount of pain I'm in he is having me see a pain management specialist. Will the fracture ever heal? Can I go the rest of my life with my sternum fractured? And can I anticipate being in pain like this forever???