Wound strength in a clinical material.

A number of investigations on wound strength have earlier been performed, though mostly in experimental animals and on laboratory tissue; comparisons with human tissue are lacking. In this study, the breaking strength of wounds sutured with two different suture materials, polyglycolic acid (Dexon) and a synthetic polyamid (Supramid) was studied in a human material of 56 patients operated for scoliosis in two stages. Wound thickness and wound length (wound area) were considered in the determination of breaking strength. The breaking strength of a 14-day-old wound was about 57 N/cm2 wound area, a value which is quite comparable to the values obtained in experiments on wound healing in animals, such as rats and rabbits. Those experiments can thus be considered relevant also for human tissue. All wounds healed uneventfully and no difference in strength was noticed in wounds sutured with the two different suture materials.