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Introduction: With the expectation of superior performance and speed of closure, a University of Pittsburgh surgeon started in 2007 to close all of body contouring operative wounds with Quill™ barbed suture.
Methods: This single surgeon six year clinical review compares two similar groups of body contouring patients’ suture closed with two layers with the deep layer absorbable barbed (Quill™) or braided running sutures (Polysorb™). Relevant information was acquired from operative reports, clinical notes and photographic achieves of 360 consecutive patients. Total operative times were compared. The healing complications were documented as complications per suture line. Severity of complications was progressively graded 1, 2 and 3.
Results: There were a total of 950 procedures with 1,590 suture lines at risk for wound related complications in 360 patients. 132 patients were closed with a deep running layer of Polysorb and 228 patients were closed with a deep running layer of PDO Quill. There were less overall wound complications in the Quill™ group when compared to the running Polysorb™ group (p<0.05). Evaluation of the differences in complications by multivariable logistical regression controlling for ancillary surgical procedures, Quill™ was associated with significantly less complications. Total minor, moderate and severe wound complications between our sub-groups of massive weight loss versus non-massive weight loss patients were more for the massive weight loss (p<0.05). Dividing the total operative time by the number of suture lines for Quill™ the time was 72.45 minutes and Polysorb™ the time was 68.58. There was no difference between the times (p=0.63).
Conclusions: Proper Quill™ suture selection with our two layer technique leads to improved efficiency, surgeon satisfaction, and lower rate of wound healing complications. Quill™ is most advantageous in Brachioplasty and Vertical Medial Thighplasty.