Abstract
Aim
Wound leakage has been shown to increase the risk of prostetic joint infections (PJIs) in primary total hip (THA) and knee arthroplasty (unicondylar and total knee arthroplasty; KA). The aim of this study is to determine whether the addition of a continuous subcuticular bonding stitch to a conventional 3-layer closure method reduces the incidence of prolonged wound leakage and PJIs after THA and KA.
Method
This retrospective cohort study included all patients receiving a THA or KA. Patients in the control group with a 3-layer closure method had surgery between November 1st 2015 and 2016, and were compared to the study group with a 4-layer closure method that had surgery between January 1st 2017 and 2018. The primary outcome was incidence of prolonged wound leakage longer than 72 hours. Differences were evaluated using logistic regression. Incidence of PJIs was the secondary outcome.
Results
A total of 439 THA and 339 KA in the control group and 460 THA and 350 KA in the study group were included. In the control group 11.7% of the patients had a prolonged leaking wound compared to 1.9% in the study group (p<0.001). The modified wound closure method showed a protective effect for obtaining prolonged wound leakage; odds ratios were 0.09 (95%CI 0.04–0.22; p<0.001) for THA and 0.21 (95%CI 0.10–0.43; p<0.001) for KA. PJIs decreased from 1.54% to 0.37% (p=0.019).
Conclusions
The addition of a continuous subcuticular bonding stitch reduces the incidence of prolonged wound leakage and PJIs after THA and KA compared to a conventional 3-layer wound closure method. The large reduction of incidence in wound leakage and PJIs in this study, combined with relatively negligible cost and effort of the modified wound closure method, would advocate for implementing this wound closure method in arthroplasty.
