Synthetic polyglycomer short-term absorbable sutures vs. polydioxanone long-term absorbable sutures for preventing incisional hernia and wound dehiscence after abdominal wall closure: a comparative randomized study of patients treated for gastric or colon cancer

To compare the results of abdominal wall closure using interrupted synthetic short-term vs. long-term tensile strength-retaining absorbable sutures. The subjects were 55 patients undergoing elective laparotomy through a midline vertical incision for gastric or colon cancer surgery between November 2008 and August 2010, at our hospital. After providing informed consent, the patients were randomized for suturing with Polysorb(A (R)), which provides short-term tensile strength, or with (PDSII)-I-A (R), which provides long-term strength. The primary outcome analyzed was the incidence of incisional hernia or wound dehiscence. There were 28 patients allocated to the Polysorb group and 27 to the PDS II group. Postoperative wound dehiscence was noted in two patients (3.6 %). Five of 51 patients (9.8 %) suffered incisional hernia within 1 year after surgery, 6 of 41 patients (14.6 %) within 2 years, and 6 of 35 patients (17.1 %) within 3 years. There was no significant per year difference in the incidence of incisional hernia or wound dehiscence between the groups. Outcomes were favorable in both groups and not inferior to reported outcomes of larger-scale studies. Verification of the equivalence between the two types of suture material necessitates larger-scale studies that adopt the same suture methods.