A Comparative Study of Suture Vs Stapler in Open Abdominal Surgery

Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study were Comparative study between suture v/s stapler in open abdominal surgery Comparing factors like Surgical site infection; Post operative pain; Post-operative scarring; Wound dehiscence; Cosmetic appearance; Cost effectiveness. Materials and Method: A total of 160 cases were included in this study with prior informed consent. Study duration: The study was carried out over a time period of two years from December 2011 to September 2013. Study design: The present study was prospective, observational, and comparative. Conclusion: Several methods of skin closure are available to close the skin incisions in place of sutures like staples, clips, steristrips and glue adhesives. Wound infection is a great hazard in abdominal skin closure as it can lead to disastrous complications. Cosmesis is essential and important aspect in this day of modern surgical practice. A cosmetic scar gives satisfaction to the patient and also to the surgeon. Preventing wound infection is necessary as it may lead not only to an ugly scar but also occurrence and recurrence of hernia. In our study, comparison of abdominal skin closure with staples and vertical mattress sutures was done. We found that: 1) Incidence of post operative wound infection was less with skin staples. 2) Skin staples provided better cosmesis than the vertical mattress skin closure. Hence, we conclude that the use of skin staples in low tension incision is easy, associated with low incidence of wound complications, provides good cosmetic outcome and also takes considerably less time for skin closure and thus recommend its use more frequently especially for closure of long and multiple incisions.