title: An analysis of partial width flexor tendon graft preparation on porcine models: the optimal split?
abstract: Partial width tendon grafts are commonly used in upper limb reconstructive surgery. Different techniques are described to harvest the graft including a "cheese wire" technique to split the tendon along its fibres with a filament. However no study has looked at the best material for this purpose. Fresh flexor tendons from pigs' trotters were used to analyse the splitting qualities of 11 different suture materials. The qualities assessed were: whether the suture material was successful in splitting the tendon, the average force required to split the tendon and the resulting quality of the spilt tendon graft. Whilst wire sutures produced a high quality of graft, they were awkward to use as they necessitated handling with a holder due to the higher forces required to split the tendon. Fibrewire provided the best result with respect to graft quality and ease of method as it combined the cutting strength of wire with the handling characteristics of a braided suture.
authors.affiliation: Upper Limb Unit, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK. tobycolegatestone@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Toby
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Colegate-Stone
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Allom
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavakkolizadeh
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Compson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001178:Arthroplasty; D005528:Foot; D013537:Sutures; D013552:Swine; D013709:Tendon Transfer / Q000379:methods*; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014955:Wrist Joint / Q000601:surgery