Decrease in skin-closing tension intraoperatively with suture tension adjustment reel, balloon expansion, and undermining.
BACKGROUND
The biomechanical and viscoelastic properties of the skin enable it to be significantly stretched within a relatively short period of time. This property, called mechanical creep, is exploited in various surgical maneuvers for intraoperative closure of large surgical defects. The recently introduced Miami Suture Tension Adjustment Reel (S.T.A.R.) device permits both the precise sutured attachment of a linear cycled load to approximate the edges of widened surgical defects, and the easy measurement of wound edge tension across the defects.


OBJECTIVE
It was our purpose to compare the relative effects of linear load cycling with the S.T.A.R. device, spherical load cycling with balloon expander, and surgical undermining on the closing tension of surgical defects.


METHODS
Surgical wounds were created on the flanks of six pigs and these defects were closed by various methods of repair. The combination of undermining and the S.T.A.R. device ws also evaluated.


RESULTS
The average total decreases in skin closing tension were: undermining, 17.8 +/- 0.5%; balloon, 28.5 +/- 1.6%; S.T.A.R. device, 36.6 +/- 4.8%.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data showed that all three techniques were effective in lowering the tension required to approximate surgically created defects, with the S.T.A.R. device proving to be most effective. Undermining and the S.T.A.R. device also worked synergistically to decrease skin-closing tension.
Division of Dermatology, University of California Los Angeles 90024.
A C
AC
Lam
Q H
QH
Nguyen
D P
DP
Tahery
B H
BH
Cohen
G H
GH
Sasaki
R L
RL
Moy
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002404:Catheterization / Q000295:instrumentation; D062109:Dermatologic Surgical Procedures; D004548:Elasticity; D004867:Equipment Design; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D007430:Intraoperative Care; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D013536:Suture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013552:Swine; D015626:Tissue Expansion / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015625:Tissue Expansion Devices; D014783:Viscosity