BREAKING STRENGTH AND DIAMETER OF ABSORBABLE SUTURES AFTER IN-VIVO EXPOSURE IN THE RAT

Although absorbable sutures are commonly used in clinical practice, th e rate of decay of strength in various tissues has not been studied. T he purpose of this study was to assess breaking strength (BS) and diam eter of monofilament (chromic gut, polydiaxanone, Maxon, Monocryl) and multifilament (Vicryl, Dexon, Polysorb) absorbable sutures implanted in various sites and measured at specific time intervals. A 15 cm leng th of 4-0 suture from a single lot of each material was implanted in t he pleural space, rectus abdominus muscle, subcutaneous tissue, intrav ascular space, peritoneal cavity, and stomach lumen in the rat. A prec ipitous decrease in BS was noted in all multifilament sutures after 7 days, and in chromic gut and Monocryl sutures after 1 day. Polydiaxano ne and Maxon sutures maintained the highest BS over the 28-day period, 71 per cent and 59 per cent of their initial BS, respectively. Suture diameter remained essentially unchanged except for chromic gut and th e multifilament sutures which exhibited increased diameter. This incre ase was attributed to inflammatory tissue infiltration.