title: Evaluation of simple and looped suture and new material for flexor tendon repair.
abstract: Flexor tendon repair strength is proportional to the number of suture strands crossing the repair site but it is not clear if each strand needs to result from a separate pass through the tendon. We examined whether one throw of looped suture across a repair site equals two separate throws of suture and whether fewer passes with stronger material such as Fiberwire is equivalent to more passes with a comparatively weaker material such as Supramid. When evaluating the repairs for force required to generate a 2 mm gap and for gap formed at the instant prior to failure, looped suture cannot substitute for two separate passes of suture (Supramid Kessler looped vs. separate passes, 14 N vs. 35 N and 8.8 mm vs. 4.1 mm, respectively; Fiberwire Kessler looped vs. separate passes, 25 N vs. 43 N and 7.6 mm vs. 4.6 mm, respectively; all p<0.05). Two-stranded Fiberwire Kessler repair equalled four-stranded cruciate repair with Supramid for all tested parameters (force at 2 mm gap: 17 N vs. 22 N, respectively; force at failure: 42 N vs. 46 N; and gap formed prior to instant of failure: 6.9 mm vs. 5.6 mm; all p>0.05).
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Brockardt
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Wongworawat