Experience with the use of polyglycolic acid suture material (Dexon) in 500 surgical patients

A highly concise review is presented of the experimental and clinical literature concerning polyglycolic acid suture material, marketed for clinical use for the first time in 1970. It is a synthetic, completely absorbable, non-toxic product, which not only offers a number of advantages over catgut, but may also be used where non-absorbable materials were formerly applied exclusively. Our favorable experiences in 500 patients, who were subjected to many different kinds of general surgical operations, are in agreement with those published in the literature. We have gained the impression that suture fistulization, which may lead to protracted morbidity after use of non-absorbable material, has decreased in incidence and severity after the use of PGA suture material. This is a definite advantage.