Background: The most common material used for closure of median sternotomy incision is steel suture in open heart surgery. Some complications and disadvantages have been investigated recently. These complications are the breaking down of steel suture, erosion of sternum tabulae especially in osteoporotic patients, erosion of the dermis especially in patients with thin subdermic layer and cause of infection. Another disadventage of steel suture material is cosmetic problems or discomfort. For these reasons some suture materials such as silk, polyfilament polyester, monofilament material, polypropylene have been used recently. Silk and polyester have a risk of high infection, and polypropylene causes granulation tissue according to the number of knots. These facts encouraged the usage of an absorbable suture material. The available polyfilament absorbable sutures in the market a few years ago had a short absorption time, causing sternal infection and dehiscence. Polydiaxone, a monofilament suture material introduced recently has a considerably longer absorption time.
Methods: 153 sternal closures were performed with monofilament absorbable suture material in a period of seven months at the Koşuyolu Heart and Research Hospital. The mean age of the patients was 32.55, ranging from 8/12 to 71 years. The mean body weight is 48.37, ranging between 7 kg and 75 kg.
Results: Only two patients had sternal dehiscence.
Conclusions: We conclude that monofilament absorbable suture is a safe alternative for all kinds of steel suture material for closure of sternotomy.