Publication:

A comparative study of skin staples and conventional sutures for abdominal skin wound closures

Background The objectives of the study were to study the operative time, the effect on wound healing, cosmetic results, patients acceptance and total cost with the use of sutures and staples.

Methods The study was conducted on 100 patients who were undergoing elective surgery from January 2016 to July 2017 in our institute. The patients were randomly selected to receive either suture or staple.

Results The study group included 50 patients who underwent wound closure by staplers and 50 patients underwent suturing. The commonest region of the surgical wounds was Mc Burneys site. The time taken for wound closure using staplers showed statistically significance difference over closure with suture, it took the stapler 4 times less duration to perform wound closure. The average cost of using stapler was higher than suturing. The appearance of the scar among the staple group was good in 90% of those who returned for follow-up at 1 month, 10% had average scar. The patients acceptance was better in staple group with less pain during removal as compared to suture group. P-value calculated using students unpaired T-test. P<0.0001 which was highly significant.

Conclusions Staples did not cause excess wound pain and allows saving in time with better cosmetic results.