Comparison of E. coli Infiltration between New Synthetic Absorbable Sutures

Purpose: The proper selection of suture is very important to minimize infection after gastrointestinal anastomosis and closure, which is one of the causes of postoperative complications such as leakage and stricture, etc, in the surgical field. Thus this study focuses on which suture can reduce bacterial infection after surgical operation by comparing in vitro microbial infiltration rates of three synthetic absorbable sutures and that of silk a relatively absorbable material, using E. coli. Methods: Four different, sterilized kinds of absorbable sutures were used for two experiments. In experiment 1, the cut-off suture was directly applied to the standard method agar plate and cultured for observation. In experiment 2, the cut-off suture was diluted with 1 ml of tryptic soy broth to be smeared and cultured in the standard method agar plate and counted using a spectrophotometer. Results: The first experiment revealed that bacterial growth was not observed in the monofilament and antibiotic-coated multifilament sutures, while the other sutures of multifilament structure were invaded by bacteria. In the second experiment, counting and averaging the colony from five plates of each test showed that the number of E. coli of monofilament suture, antibiotics-coated polyglactin, polyglactin and silk were 0±0, 39.3±14.4, 208.6± 76.6, 59.4±26.7, respectively. Conclusion: Sutures of monofilament structure are believed to be a relatively safe material that can be used for gastrointestinal anastomosis and closure since it has lower bacterial infiltration rates than sutures of multifilament structure. (J Korean Surg Soc 2009;77:1-6)