Purpose
We sought to compare overall satisfaction with treatment and satisfaction with initial
wound healing after closure of office hand and upper extremity surgery wounds using
polyamide compared to Chromic gut sutures.
Methods
We compared 62 patients randomized to polyamide suture closure of an office hand and
upper extremity incision (mostly carpal tunnel release and trigger finger release)
to 50 patients closed with Chromic gut suture. Patients rated overall treatment satisfaction,
satisfaction with initial healing, pain intensity, and upper extremity–specific activity
tolerance.
Results
Accounting for potential confounding in multivariable linear and logistic regression
analysis, we found the following: (1) overall satisfaction with care was unrelated
to suture type; (2) satisfaction with initial wound healing and appearance was lower
among people with no other comorbidities, but unrelated to suture type; (3) there
were no factors independently associated with pain intensity; and (4) excisional biopsy
was associated with greater activity tolerance.
Conclusions
Our findings suggests that Chromic sutures are a viable alternative to polyamide sutures
after office hand surgery, provided that the care team anticipates and develops strategies
for concerns that may arise if the sutures take an extended period to fall off.
Type of study/level of evidence
Therapeutic II.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 08, 2021
Accepted:
July 28,
2021
Received:
August 23,
2020
Footnotes
Dr Ring has received or may receive payment or benefits from Skeletal Dynamics; has received or may receive payment or benefits from Wright Medical for elbow implants; and is Deputy Editor for Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, Universities and Hospitals, and Lawyers outside the submitted work. No benefits in any form have been received or will be received by the other authors related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. All rights reserved.
