Georgios Anthimidis, Marios Gregoriou, Thomas Stavrakis, Kalliopi Vasiliadou, Ioannis Lyras, Kostas Ioannidis, George Basdanis

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Surgical Department, Interbalkan Medical Center of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Clinic of Plastic Surgery of the Athens Medical Center, Athens, Greece.
Surgical Clinic, General Hospital of Drama, Drama, Greece.
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Abstract: Background-Aim: The technique of abdominal closure along with the material to be used is constantly evolving. The aim of the present study is to evaluate differences in midline laparotomy closure with a standard closure technique and new-fangled slow-absorbable versus non-absorbable sutures. Material and Methods: A prospective, comparative study of patients undergoing laparotomy closure with either STARDIOX (Polydioxanone) or STARLENE (Polypropylene) sutures during a 9 month period was performed. Patients were evaluated and compared in terms of surgical site infection, incisional hernia, burst abdomen, and suture sinus formation. Results: A total of 284 patients were included [141 in the STARDIOX (Polydioxanone) group and 143 in the STARLENE (Polypropylene) group]. Sinus formation was not noticed and no palpable knots were reported in both groups. Moreover burst abdomen was never encountered. Incisional hernia rates were similar for both suture materials: n = 6 (4.3%) for the STARDIOX (Polydioxanone) group and n = 5 (3.5%) for the STARLENE (Polypropylene) group. There was not statistically significant relationship between the type of suture that was used and wound infection: n = 5 (3.5%) in the STARDIOX (Polydioxanone) group and n = 6 (4.2%) in the STARLENE (Polypropylene) group. Complications did not occur in 96.1% of all patients. Conclusions: Our study suggests that there are no significant differences between these two new-fangled sutures. It seems that progress of suture materials has led to a step towards the goals of a beneficial suture and from then on complications of surgical wound closure should be merely a matter of operative technique.

Keywords: Abdominal Closure; Suture Material; Midline Laparotomy

Cite this paper: G. Anthimidis, M. Gregoriou, T. Stavrakis, K. Vasiliadou, I. Lyras, K. Ioannidis and G. Basdanis, "New-Fangled Slowly-Absorbable versus Non-Absorbable Sutures for Abdominal Fascial Closure. Have the Goals towards an Advantageous Suture Been Met?," Surgical Science, Vol. 4 No. 6, 2013, pp. 298-301. doi: 10.4236/ss.2013.46058.

References

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