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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Plast Surg 2022; 55(03): 294-298
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1756132
Original Article

Biomechanical Analysis of a New Eight-Strand Suture for Flexor Tendon Repair

Koji Moriya
1   Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata Hand Surgery Foundation, Niigata, Japan
,
Yutaka Maki
1   Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata Hand Surgery Foundation, Niigata, Japan
,
Hisao Koda
1   Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata Hand Surgery Foundation, Niigata, Japan
,
Naoto Tsubokawa
1   Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Niigata Hand Surgery Foundation, Niigata, Japan
› Author Affiliations Funding The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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Abstract

Background The placement of multistrand sutures during flexor tendon repair requires complicated surgical skills; such suturing is difficult. We developed a new, simpler eight-strand suture, which we term the Yoshizu cross-lock. This reduces the numbers of suture passages through the tendons, as well as the numbers of knots.

Methods Fourteen porcine flexor tendons were transected and repaired using the Yoshizu cross-lock system; no peripheral sutures were placed. Our system is a modification of the published, exposed cross-lock repair method that employs a 4–0 monofilament nylon two-strand line and two needles. The repaired tendons were subjected to linear, noncyclic load-to-failure tensile testing. The initial gap, the 2-mm gap force, and the ultimate strength were measured.

Results The initial gap force was 12.6 ± 5.6 Newtons (N), the 2-mm gap force was 33.9 ± 10.9 N, and the ultimate strength was 70.1 ± 17.0 N. All tendons subjected to Yoshizu cross-lock repair failed due to suture rupture rather than pullout.

Conclusions Our biomechanical study revealed that Yoshizu cross-lock repair had sufficient tensile strength but was associated with wide variation in the 2-mm gap load (standard deviation = 10.9 N). This study is clinically relevant, showing that the Yoshizu cross-lock repair combined with peripheral suturing may allow a repaired flexor tendon to withstand the stresses encountered during early active mobilization. This simple eight-strand technique will be particularly useful to surgeons who commonly employ the cross-lock stitch for primary flexor tendon repair following early mobilization.

Keywords

cross-locking - eight-strand - flexor tendon repair

Ethical Approval Declaration

The local ethics committee approved this study [R3–4]. The study was conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.


Authors' Contributions

KM conceptualized, collected, and interpreted the experimental data, and wrote the manuscript. YM, HK, and NT interpreted the experimental data, and revised the manuscript critically for important content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.




Publication History

Article published online:
25 September 2022

© 2022. Association of Plastic Surgeons of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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