Internal surgical adhesive reduces invasiveness/discomfort in DIEP flap breast reconstruction procedures by generating a Drain-Free donor site wound closure. Retrospective case series assessing TissuGlu®

Introduction:

Use of drains is invasive, breaching the skin barrier, leaving a foreign body within the wound and causing patient discomfort. Monitoring and cleaning of drains and exit wounds also consumes nursing resources. Elimination of donor site drain use would be preferable. This study retrospectively assessed the effectiveness of a high strength lysine-based adhesive in reducing overall invasiveness compared to standard donor site wound closure with drains in a DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction Procedure.

Methods:

Data was retrospectively collected for 58 patients, meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria, who underwent a DIEP flap breast reconstruction procedure with standard donor site wound closure with drains (SWC) or with TissuGlu® and no drains (TissuGlu). Exclusion criteria included current smoker, BMI> 28 and active SSRI drug prescriptions. The primary outcome measured assessed overall invasiveness using the number of fluid related clinical interventions, including drain use and needle aspirations. Secondary endpoints included total wound drainage, cumulative days of treatment, and length of hospital stay.

Results:

See table below. (Mean ± SD)

Number of fluid related clinical interventions	2.0 ± 0.4 (59 total interventions)	0.2 ± 0.5 (5 total interventions)	< 0.0001
Total wound drainage (mL)	335.5 ± 179.4	13.8 ± 52.7	< 0.0001
Cumulative days of invasive treatment	6.2 ± 1.5	0.2 ± 0.6	< 0.0001
Post-op length of hospital stay (days)	8.3 ± 1.3	7.9 ± 1.8	0.0930
Overall Results – second column describes the Control Group (n = 29), third column shows the TissuGlu Group (n = 29), forth column reports the p-value

Conclusion:

The study shows that the drain-free donor site DIEP flap procedure is a less invasive and more patient friendly alternative to the conventional method with drains. A prospective, randomized study would be an appropriate next step.