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Barbed Sutures in Body-Contouring: Outcome Analysis of 695 Procedures in 623 Patients and Technical Advances

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Abstract

Introduction

Surgical wound closure is often complicated by suture-related issues. The recent introduction of knotless barbed sutures may address the shortcomings of conventional sutures and offer the additional benefit of reduced operating time. In this paper, we describe our experience with barbed sutures for body-contouring procedures. We share technical insights and evaluate postoperative complications.

Patients and Methods

A retrospective assessment of prospectively collected data over a period of more than 5 years was undertaken. Six hundred twenty-three consecutive patients underwent 695 body-contouring procedures with barbed suture closure. Patients were followed for at least 12 weeks postoperatively. Patient demographics, operation time as well as suture-related complications, such as wound dehiscence and wound site infection were recorded and analyzed.

Results

Barbed sutures can facilitate skin closure, rectus plication, quilting, and deep layer closure in body-contouring procedures. The average operating time in our study cohort was 108 min with reduction mammoplasty being the quickest (94 min) and bodylift (156 min) being the slowest procedure. Sixty-eight patients experienced suture-related complications resulting in an overall complication rate of 9.7 % with thigh lift having the most (15 %) and reduction mammoplasty (7 %) the fewest adverse events.

Conclusion

The use of barbed sutures allows quick closure of lengthy body-contouring incision lines with low complication rates. Our observations support that barbed sutures are safe, convenient and effective. In our hands barbed sutures appear to be superior to traditional wound-closure techniques in body-contouring procedures.

Level of Evidence IV

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

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Acknowledgments

Drs. Duscher, Pollhammer, Wenny, Shamiyeh, and Schmidt have no financial interest in any of the products, or devices mentioned in this article. Dr. Huemer serves on the speaker’s bureau of Covidien, which provided suture material. No funding was received for this work.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Section of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kepler University Hospital, Krankenhausstrasse 9, 4020, Linz, Austria

      Dominik Duscher, Michael S. Pollhammer, Raphael Wenny, Manfred Schmidt & Georg M. Huemer

    2. Department of Surgery, Kepler University Hospital, Linz, Austria

      Andreas Shamiyeh

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    1. Dominik Duscher
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    2. Michael S. Pollhammer
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    3. Raphael Wenny
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    4. Andreas Shamiyeh
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    5. Manfred Schmidt
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    6. Georg M. Huemer
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    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Georg M. Huemer.

    Additional information

    D. Duscher and M. S. Pollhammer contributed equally to this work.

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    Duscher, D., Pollhammer, M.S., Wenny, R. et al. Barbed Sutures in Body-Contouring: Outcome Analysis of 695 Procedures in 623 Patients and Technical Advances. Aesth Plast Surg 40, 815–821 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-016-0701-2

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-016-0701-2

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