A NEW SUTURE MATERIAL FOR REPAIR OF THE INJURED SPLEEN

Parenchyma-Set, a new absorbable collagen-tape suture material, was us ed in the present study for the repair of experimentally injured splee ns and the results compared with polyglactin. Standard splenic injurie s were produced in ten mongrel dogs. The spleens of five (group I) wer e repaired with Parenchyma-Set and those of the other five (group II) with polyglactin. Isotope uptakes of the spleens performed on the 30th postoperative day showed varying degrees of scintigraphic defects in group II in comparison with group I. The histopathologic examinations revealed better healing in group I with better preservation of the spl enic architecture. We conclude that Parenchyma-Set appears to be the s uture material of choice for repair of the injured spleen.