The Generalities and Differences Between Vicryl Suture, Vicryl Rapide Suture, and Antibacterial Sutures

Dermatologic wounds can be closed by a range of methods. Although the skill and method of the surgeon are of utmost importance, the choice of wound closure materials also matters a lot. The rationale of these materials is to assist the wound closure until a wound is strong enough to withstand daily tensile forces and to enhance wound healing when the wound is most susceptible. Stitches are one of the ways of giving strength to a wound until the body's tissues are strong enough to take over. Absorbable stitches are used if the wounds are expected to heal within a week or two, for example subcutaneous tissues.

Vicryl sutures were first introduced in 1974. They were the second synthetic absorbable suture materials available. Like polyglycolic acid, polyglactin is braided and has similar handling and knot security properties. Vicryl is sometimes coated with another form of a compound called Polyglactin 370. This assists in knot tying and lessens tissue drag; however, this coating also reduces knot security and may cause surgeons to use more throws. Among the absorbable suture materials, Vicryl absorbable suture is a multifilament material.
There are many advantages of using Vicryl suture. The first tensile strength of polyglactin is a little greater than that of polyglycolic acid and is absorbed at a much faster rate. One of the special characteristics of Vicryl absorbable suture is that it retains sixty percent of its tensile strength at day fourteen after implantation and only eight percent of its original strength at day twenty eight. It is totally hydrolyzed in about sixty to ninety days. Tissue reactivity with polyglactin is small. Although used first and foremost as a buried suture, polyglactin has been used for percutaneous closures without unfavorable outcomes. This was coupled with cost savings. Polyglactin is accessible as an undyed or violet suture.

Two additional Polyglactin 910 sutures have been developed by Ethicon. Vicryl RAPIDE Suture which is composed of Polyglactin 910 that has been ionized with gamma rays to increase its rate of absorption. This product is useful as a buried suture in a wound needing restricted dermal support; it is wholly absorbed in thirty five days. The newest material is an antibacterial suture which is essentially Vicryl suture with additional antibacterial properties. The antibacterial agent used to coat the suture is known as triclosan. The Antibacterial Coated Vicryl provides decreased drag through tissue. For this reason, coated Vicryl sutures are used by some surgeons for the interior layer of bowel anastomosis; which is the joining together of two organs, usually hollow. Biocompatibility and implantation studies have shown this to be nontoxic and nonirritating. Managing, wound healing and absorption characteristics are of a similar standard as the Vicryl RAPIDE.

Few pediatric patients treated with the Vicryl antibacterial suture had pain on the first day after operation in comparison to those treated with the original Vicryl suture. This demonstrated a ratio of sixty-eight to eighty-nine percent. This suture may be helpful in wounds where there is a higher risk of infection.



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