Abstract
Introduction Determining the extent of dynamic creep of a suture gives insight into the potential for formation of a flexor tendon repair site gap, with less creep having a positive benefit. We wanted to determine the dynamic creep of various suture materials using a cyclical testing protocol that simulates 30 days of active mobilisation.
Methods Four-strand loops, 20 mm in length, were created using Prolene, Ticron, Ethibond, and Mersilene (n=8 per group). Samples were loaded between 3.5N and 35N at 10 cycles per minute for 3000 cycles using a materials testing machine. All testing was conducted in phosphate buffered saline at 37° celsius. The dynamic creep was determined for each group. A separate group of suture loops were also created for load to failure testing. All data was analysed using ANOVA on SPSS software.
Results The loads to failure were 55.4, 65.5, 64.4 and 73.1N for Prolene, Ticron, Ethibond and Mersilene respectively. During cyclical testing, only one Prolene sample survived, with failure occurring after a mean of 1182 cycles (range 574 to 2660). Of those that failed, the mean creep was 3.80 mm (SD=0.51). In contrast, no specimens in the other groups failed, with a dynamic creep of 0.44 mm (SD=0.19), 0.32 mm (SD=0.17), and 0.28 mm (SD=0.07) for Ticron, Ethibond and Mersilene respectively.
Conclusions Regardless of your chosen suture technique for flexor tendon repairs, this study suggests that the suture material itself can play an important role in the eventual outcome. These results should be kept in mind when deciding on the suture material for your repairs.
The abstracts were prepared by Mr Jerzy Sikorski. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the Australian Orthopaedic Association, Ground Floor, William Bland Centre, 229 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia.
None of the authors have received any payment or consideration from any source for the conduct of this study.
