Bacterial adhesion to braided surgical sutures: an in vitro study

Abstract

Background Surgical suture materials are accepted to be associated with a substantial proportion of surgical site infections. These infections are related with biofilm formation similar to that of other synthetic and implantable medical devices. Methods We conducted an in vitro study to investigate the bacterial adherence to different types of braided surgical sutures. The included sutures were polyglactin (Vicryl (R)) group (VG), rapidly absorbable polyglactin (Rapide-Vicryl (R)) group (RVG), nitrofurazone-coated polyglactin (Vicryl (R)) group (FVG), polyethylene terephthalate (Etibond (R)) group (EG), and natural silk (Silk (R)) group (SG). All sutures were cut in 1 cm length, embedded into tryptic soy broth, and then 10(6)-CFU/ml Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were added. After the 24th and 96th hour of incubation, bacterial colonies were counted, and results were expressed as CFU/cm. Results E. coli adhesion was significantly lower in VG and significantly higher in SG compared to FVG, RVG, and EG at the 24th and 96th hour of cultivation (p< 0.05). The S. aureus adhesion results at 24th hour showed that VG had the least bacterial adhesion, and FVG had the most bacterial adhesion compared to other sutures (p< 0.05). The S. aureus adhesion results at the 96th hour of cultivation showed that bacterial adhesion on sutures was not significantly different between groups (p> 0.05). Conclusion Of all braided surgical sutures, bacterial adhesion is significantly lower in polyglactin and significantly higher in silk sutures. Nitrofurazone coverage of suture worsens S. aureus contamination of the suture.