Research of physical and mechanical characteristics of suture material in experiment in operations on liver

Abstract

Taking into account the peculiarities of the blood supply to the liver and the structure of its parenchyma, and, as a result, considerable difficulties in providing reliable hemostasis without additional traumatization, a surgeon needs to be careful when performing a surgical manipulation. Despite a large number of modern methods for stopping parenchymal bleeding, many practi-tioners give preference to classic methods of hemostasis, including ligation of bleeding vessels in the bulk of the organ using specialized sutures. One of the most serious complications of the use of suture material is cutting of organ tissue, which leads to enhanced bleeding and expansion of the area of damage. At the moment, the tactics of choosing suture material for surgical procedures is empirical. In this context, the aim of this study was to assess the physico-mechanical properties of suture material regarding its structure, and to develop a criterion for choosing surgical sutures for surgical procedures. For the study, the liver was removed out of corpses of males of 35 to 40 years of age, after which separate sections of 7.5×7×4 cm in size were obtained from it. Then a wound 3 cm long and 2 cm deep was made. The wound was sutured with a simple interrupted suture without tightening, but with application of one simple half-node. For suturing, catgut, twisted capron and polyglycolide thread were used. Attention was paid to the maximal force applied at the moment of cutting (Fmax) and the degree of pulling the thread at the moment of cutting (Lu). The analysis of the data was based on comparison of Fmax and Lu parameters. This method permits to refuse from the empirical approach to the choice of suture material for operations on the liver, and to develop a criterion for choosing surgical sutures.