Unidirectional Barbed Sutures can be used Safely in Pediatric Gastro-Intestinal Surgery

Erin Kloos, Ravindra Vegunta* and Kristina Morgan*

Department of Surgery, Banner University Medical Center, USA

^*Correspondance to: Erin Kloos 

 PDF  Full Text DOI: 10.25107/2474-1647.1469

Abstract

Background: Since the sterilization of catgut in 1907, the essential structure of surgical suture has not been modified beyond the evolution of synthetic and blended sutures from that of a simple thread and needle until recently. First approved in 2007 for approximation of soft tissue, barbed sutures (BS) are specially engineered sutures that slide through tissue in only one direction. These sutures stay in position once placed without need for knots at each end and without need for maintaining tension during placement. To date, there are no publications that document the use of barbed sutures in gastrointestinal (GI) surgery in children. Our report consists of a short series of cases demonstrating that the use of barbed sutures in laparoscopic GI procedures in children is safe.Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed for the four children in whom unidirectional BS – V-Loc (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA), was used for GI application, between January 01, 2013 and December 31, 2014. Variables including patient age and gender, duration of surgery and specific suture used as well as time to feeds post-operative length of stay, post-operative complications were evaluated.Results: All procedures were completed without adverse events and without subsequent complications including wound infection and readmission for wound dehiscence or anastomosis breakdown.Conclusions: We conclude that the use of V-Loc absorbable unidirectional barbed sutures in laparoscopic gastrointestinal anastomosis is feasible and safe in children including neonates.

Keywords

Barbed sutures; Pediatric surgery; Gastro-intestinal surgery

Cite the article

Kloos E, Vegunta R, Morgan K. Unidirectional Barbed Sutures can be used Safely in Pediatric Gastro-Intestinal Surgery. Clin Surg. 2017; 2: 1469.