Repair of growing vessels. Continuous absorbable or interrupted nonabsorbable suture?
R. M. Stillman and Z. Sophie
Twenty 1-month-old piglets were subjected to aortic transection and primary
repair either with a posterior-running, anterior-interrupted nonabsorbable
suture (group 1) or a circumferential continuous absorbable suture (group
2) technique. Mean piglet weight increased by 886% at six months and 1,184%
at nine months. Aortic cross-sectional areas increased by 243% and 340%,
respectively. Grossly visible, though minimal, stricture formation was
noted in three pigs from group 1 and was associated with an overall 5.8%
average anastomotic stricture at six months and 3.5% at nine months in
group 1, compared with 0.2% and -0.1%, respectively, in group 2. Adhesion
formation, fibrosis, and foreign-body reaction were common in group 1 but
negligible in group 2. This corresponded to a mean wall thickness measured
at nine months of 2.0 +/- 0.9 mm in group 1 and of 1.0 +/- 0.4 mm in group
2.
