Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate outcomes of sutureless abdominal wall closure in gastroschisis. Methods: Clinical records of all patients who underwent abdominal wall closure between 1990 and 2010 in our hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Five patients who underwent sutureless closure were compared to a historical group of nine patients who underwent suture closure. End points were intubation period, time to starting oral feeds, time to full oral feeds, hospital stay, and postoperative complications during hospitalization or follow-up period. Results: Time to full oral feeding with sutureless closure was significantly shorter than with the traditional method (19.6 vs 45.1 days, p=0.04). There was no difference in intubation period (8.6 vs 21.2 days, p=0.28), time to starting oral feeds (10.8 vs 27.1 days, p=0.08), or hospital stay (34.6 vs 69.3 days, p=0.08). There was one postoperative complication with sutureless closure requiring additional care. There were five complications (56%) with traditional closure. One patient in the sutureless closure group (20%) required surgery for complications within the follow-up period. Additional surgery was also performed on five patients (56%) who underwent traditional suture closure. Conclusions: Sutureless abdominal wall closure is useful as it has a lower rate of complications and requires a shorter hospital stay.
