Improving skin closures for mothers following c-sections

As a way to combat infections after cesarean deliveries, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine conducted a study comparing the effectiveness of poliglecaprone 25 (Monocryl) and polyglactin 910 (Vicryl) in incision closure and rates of wound complications.

After the initial incision related to a cesarean birth, new mothers face a lengthy recovery, so physicians should be aware effective ways to close cesarean wounds. Over the course of 14 months, 383 women who were underwent non-emergency cesarean deliveries at 37 weeks of gestation or after were split into two groups: 192 women received Monocryl and 191 were given Vicryl. These women were followed for six weeks after the surgery.

Results showed that, while the overall rate of wound complication was 10 percent, the rates for Monocryl was 6.5 percent and 13.7 percent for Vicryl. The overall rate for wound infection was 6.7 percent, which fell to 4.3 percent with Monocryl but rose to 9.1 percent with Vicryl.

"We found that monocryl suture had a significantly decreased rate of wound complications compared to the vicryl suture,” said Arin Buresch, MD, with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "The difference in wound complications may occur due to the braiding in vicryl suture which conceivably allows bacterial growth in small nooks and crevices. In the future, we hope our study will help guide the decision-making on which suture type is used when closing the skin in cesarean births."