[Experimental study in the urinary tract of a new smooth surface absorbable synthetic monofilament (author's transl)]

The authors used 27 dogs to test the behaviour in the urinary tract of a new synthetic monofilament and absorbable suture material. Polydioxanone (PDS). The experiment was aimed at assessing the strength, ease of use, rate of absorption and lithogenic power of this material, in comparison with chromic catgut. Four loops of each material studied were inserted in the bladder, floating freely in the lumen. Absorption was evaluated by periodic cystoscopies. In the kidneys, one suture of each type was inserted into the excretory cavities by the transparenchymatous route. Development of a possible calculus was sought by urography and repeated plain X-rays of the abdomen. All the animals were killed at 6 months and routine pathological study made of the kidneys and bladder. Certain dogs were infected with proteus and subjected to fluid restriction. The lithogenic power of PDS and chromic catgut appeared to be identical. In contrast with urine, the absorption of chromic catgut by enzyme digestion was more rapid than that of polydioxanone by hydrolysis. By contrast, within the thickness of the tissues, absorption of the latter was more constant and more complete than that of chromic catgut. Polydioxanone caused a less marked tissue inflammatory reaction than the former. Scars were of equal strength. Finally, PDS suture material appears to be remarkably strong and very much easier to use than woven absorbable synthetic materials currently in use.