OBJECTIVES:
To study post operative wound infection rates in patients with oral malignancy
following use of antimicrobial coated polyglactin 910 sutures as compared to plain
polyglactin 910 sutures.
METHODS: A pilot study of consecutive cases that underwent surgery for oral malignancies
with all surgical sites being closed with triclosan coated polyglactin 910 sutures from 1st
January 2014 to 31st July 2015. A total number of 53 patients were recruited and oral swabs
was taken and sent for microbiological analysis prior to antibiotic administration. The overall
wound infection rate was then compared retrospectively to the infection rate in the previous
year in patients where the surgical sites sutured with plain polyglactin 910. Independent
variables were analyzed by Chi-Squared test; multiple logistic regression was preformed to account for multiple risk factors.
RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: The overall wound infection rate in post operative
patients who underwent oral malignancies surgery with triclosan coated polyglactin
sutures was 17%. The wound infection rate had decreased from 23.86% when plain
polyglactin sutures were used. Multivariate analysis was inconclusive and requires
completion of the proposed sample size.
The microbiological analysis revealed that the oral microbiology in patients with an
oral malignancy is the same as those without.
Nevertheless, this pilot study reveals that tumour staging of disease is a statistical
significant factor to determine post operative surgical site infections
