A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT SUTURE TECHNIQUES FOR MICROVASCULAR ANASTOMOSIS

Of the various techniques known, simple interrupted sutures remain the gold standard in the microanastomosis of vessels. Tying many knots, h owever, is time consuming. This may be of more significance with tissu es such as the jejunum, which is significantly effected by ischemia ti me, or when several vessels are to be anastomosed. In this study, 60 f emoral arteries of rabbits were divided into three equal groups. The a rteries were then divided and repaired using simple interrupted, simpl e continuous, and continuous locked sutures. Application of the Bonfer roni t-test revealed that both groups of arteries repaired using conti nuous sutures exhibited a statistically significant (p < 0.02) reducti on in anastomosis time (50%) compared with interrupted suture techniqu es. However, there also was a 45% incidence of reduction in flow (9 of 21 anastomoses) when the simple running suture technique was utilized , giving the running locked suture unquestionable superiority.