Sutures are a better option for closing a C-section than surgical staples as it reduces wound complications by a significant margin, a new study finds.
Physicians have, for a very long time, debated on whether sutures or staples are better for closing a C-section. Researchers of a new study have now settled this long-time debate by providing evidence that sutures are a better option. The study was conducted across three hospitals and included over 746 pregnant women. All of them received caesarean sections. Researchers divided the women into two groups. One included women that had gotten their C-sessions sewn and the other whose incisions were stapled. Both the groups had equal number of obese and overweight women, women that were having their first C-section and those that were having their second or third C-section. This was to ensure that the findings were not influenced by any external factor.
Researchers then made note of the number and severity of wound complications the women experienced. These included infection, wounds that re-opened, and those that developed a build-up of fluid - either blood or lymphatic fluid - around the scar. They found that only 18 out of the 370 patients in the suture group had wound complications compared to 40 out of 376 in the other group. Wound re-opening was the most common complication in the stapled group. This led researchers to state that sutures reduce wound complications by over 57 percent compared to surgical staples.
The study authors also noted that women with stitches were 80 percent less likely to have their wound re-open to a size of 1cm or more than those who's C-sections were closed with staples.
Many doctors in favor of staples argue that this procedure is easier and faster. However, the new study found that stitching up a C-section takes an average of only 9 minutes longer that stapling.
C-sections are more common among women carrying more than one baby. The national U.S. caesarean section rate was 4.5 percent in 1965 when it was first measured. Since then, large groups of healthy, low-risk American women who have received care that enhanced their bodies' innate capacity for giving birth have achieved 4 percent to 6 percent caesarean section rates and good overall birth outcomes. However, the national caesarean section rate is much higher. After steeply increasing over more than a decade, it leveled off at 32.8 percent in 2010 and 2011. So, about one mother in three now gives birth by cesarean section, according to Medical Plus.
The World Health Organization recommends that the caesarean section rate should not be higher than 10 percent to 15 percent.
