title: Knee arthrotomy repair with a continuous barbed suture: a biomechanical study.
abstract: We compared knee arthrotomy closures using interrupted biodegradable sutures and running bidirectionally barbed sutures in cadaveric specimens subjected to cyclic loading. During the initial 2000 flexion cycles, both groups maintained closure and no suture ruptured. Suture throws were then sequentially cut to weaken the repairs, and the knees were cyclically flexed after each cut. Both types of suture repairs survived the cutting of the first throw or stitch and subsequent cyclical testing. However, there was a significant difference in the repairs after multiple cuts (log-rank test, P < .003). None of the knees in the interrupted suture group survived more than 3 cuts, whereas in the barbed repair group, it took the severing of as many as 7 throws for failure to occur.
authors.affiliation: International Center for Orthopaedic Advancement, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland 21224-2780, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Vakil
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.forename: Edward G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Sutter
authors.forename: Simon C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Mears
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Belkoff
authors.forename: Harpal S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Khanuja
mesh_terms: D001182:Arthroscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002102:Cadaver; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000601:surgery*; D008422:Materials Testing; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013537:Sutures; D016474:Weight-Bearing; D058106:Wound Closure Techniques