Jan. 17 (UPI) — Sutures treated with antimicrobials are less likely to result in surgical site infections, or SSIs, according to two new studies.
Researchers analyzed several clinical studies on the efficacy of antimicrobial sutures in preventing SSIs in patients, and found that not only do antimicrobial sutures help prevent infections, but also provide cost savings as a result of lower infection rates.
For the first study, published in the British Journal of Surgery, nvestigators analyzed 21 clinical trials from January 2005 to September 2016, and found a risk of 138 SSIs per every 1,000 surgical procedures. The use of sutures coated with the antimicrobial triclosan reduced the rate by 39.
Researchers found that using triclosan-coated sutures results in a 15 percent reduction of SSIs.
A separate analysis of 34 studies showed triclosan sutures were linked to an average cost savings of roughly $113 per surgical procedure compared to using sutures not treated with triclosan.
“Antimicrobial sutures ought to be included into SSI care bundles and provide a further significant saving to National Health Service [England] surgical practice,” Professor David Leaper, lead author of the study on economic analysis and faculty of medical sciences at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, said in a press release.
The report was also published in the British Journal of Surgery.
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