POSTOPERATIVE WOUND HEALING AND WOUND COMPLICATIONS IN SUBCUTANEOUS SUTURING Vs NON-CLOSURE IN ELECTIVE SURGERIES
Keywords:
Hernia, Elective surgery, breast carcinoma, wound, seromaAbstract
Background: In elective surgeries, postoperative wound healing and wound complications are one of the greatest challenges. Due to the imperfect architecture of the delicate subcutaneous tissue layer, suturing impairs the perfusion in fatty layer, which in turn compromises the subcutaneous blood supply and causes fat necrosis.
Objective: Present study was conducted to analyze the post-operative wound healing rate and various complications (wound gaping, seroma, and wound infection) in subcutaneous suturing vs non-closure in elective surgeries like inguinal hernia, incisional hernia, umbilical hernia and breast carcinoma.
Methodology: Total 88 patients who were planned for the elective surgeries were included in the study. All patients were operated in an elective surgical setup and after completing major operative steps subcutaneous suturing using 2-0 polyglactin was done in 45 (51.1%) patients and non-closure was done in 43 (48.9%) patients. Postoperative wound healing rate and various post-operative complications were compared between the two groups.
Results: The highest incidence of elective surgeries was observed in the age group of >60 years (39.8%). A higher incidence of elective surgeries was reported in the female patients (46.6%) as compared to the male patients. Various surgeries performed include the inguinal hernia (34.1%), breast carcinoma (40.9%), incisional hernia (11.4%) and umbilical hernia (13.6%). Complications in subcutaneous suturing and non-closure involved wound gaping in 5.7% and 4.5% cases respectively, seroma in 4.5% and 6.8% cases respectively, and wound infection in 9.1% and 4.5% cases respectively.
Conclusion: Present study found no significant difference in the in the postoperative wound healing success and various post-operative complications in the patients undergoing elective surgeries. Further studies are needed to be conducted to validate the findings of this study.
