Does Unidirectional Polyglycolide Caprolactone Barbed Suture Have Improved Outcomes Over Non-barbed Suture When Applied for Intra-oral Incision Closure?

The choice of wound closure material may influence the clinical outcomes of intra-oral incision closure. Studies evaluating the application of barbed suture in the oral cavity are scarce. Hence, the present study was carried out with the aim to monitor and compare the efficacy and ease of handling of monofilament polyglycolide caprolactone (PGCL) unidirectional barbed and non-barbed sutures used for intra-oral incision closure in patients undergoing transalveolar extraction of impacted mandibular third molar and mandible fracture open reduction internal fixation.

A prospective randomized open label study was carried out among subjects requiring intra-oral incision closure following mandibular third molar extraction and isolated mandible fracture fixation. The difficulty index of the impacted third molars was evaluated pre-operatively. Subjects were randomized to receive either 3–0 monofilament PGCL unidirectional barbed or non-barbed sutures. Incision closure time and ease of suture handling were recorded intra-operatively. Post-operatively, patients were monitored for incision healing using the Hollander wound evaluation scale (HWES) and intensity of pain using visual analog scale (VAS) on post-operative days 1, 3 and 7. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, Chi-square, unpaired t test and multivariate analysis using the IBM SPSS-PC software (v.25.0).

A total of 60 subjects completed the study protocol, who were randomized into two groups (n1 = n2 = 30), comparable in terms of age, gender and treatment (TAE = 51; ORIF = 9) received. The incision healing outcomes were significantly better (p = 0.016) with barbed suture using HWES on day 7. The mean closure time using barbed suture (142.50 ± 34.803 secs) was significantly (p = 0.001) shorter than that with non-barbed suture (204.56 ± 52.94 secs). The mean VAS for the barbed suture (0.97 ± 1.89) was less (p = 0.015, 95% CI) than the non-barbed suture (2.50 ± 2.91) on day 3. The suture handling ease was comparable between the two groups.

Monofilament unidirectional PGCL barbed suture has merits over the non-barbed suture with regards to superior post-operative incision healing, reduced incision closure time (43%), lower post-operative pain and comparable ease of suture handling. Hence, knotless PGCL suture is a promising alternative for intra-oral surgical incision closure in oral and maxillofacial surgery.