If you have an infection, your health care provider will probably prescribe antibiotics. You may be given broad-spectrum antibiotics and then switched to a more specific antibiotic once the type of bacteria causing the infection is determined. This decreases the risk of side effects from the medication.

Often patients with mediastinitis must undergo surgery to debride (remove) the area of inflammation.

Prognosis depends on the cause. Patients who develop mediastinitis after open chest surgery have a significant risk of death as a result of the condition.

Complications include the following:

• Spread of the infection to surrounding structures:
  • heart
  • great vessels
  • lungs
  • bones
• Spread of the infection to the bloodstream
• Scarring

Scarring can be severe, especially when caused by chronic mediastinitis, and can compromise heart and/or lung function.

You should contact your health care provider if you have had open chest surgery and develop chest pain, fevers, chills, shortness of breath, or drainage from the incisions.

If you have tuberculosis or sarcoidosis and develop any of these symptoms, you should contact your health care provider right away.