Sternal cleft repair: a report of two cases and review of literature.

A cleft sternum is a rare congenital anomaly often diagnosed as asymptomatic at birth. Clinical outcome may be unfavourable when an associated anomaly, particularly, an intra cardiac anomaly coexists with the defect. Primary repair should be employed in the neonatal period because the flexibility of the chest wall is maximal and thus the compression of underlying structures is minimal. However, patients with sternal cleft may even present late in the childhood or adolescence period. We herein report two cases of successful repair of sternal clefts with review of the available literature.