Total knee arthroplasty closure with barbed sutures

Bidirectional barbed sutures, which do not require the tying of knots, have the potential to reduce closure times of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) wounds without adverse effect to wound security, cosmesis, or infection risk. In this retrospective study, data were reviewed from TKAs performed between January 2007 and September 2008. For 88 of these procedures, conventional absorbable sutures were used for interrupted closure of the retinacular and subcutaneous layers and for running closure of the subcuticular layer. For 90 procedures, bidirectional barbed absorbable sutures were used for running closure of the retinacular and subcutaneous layers. Surgeries performed with barbed sutures were significantly faster than those performed with conventional sutures (mean times of 74.3 minutes and 85.8 minutes, respectively, p < 0.001) with no detrimental clinical effects.