II. Category
III. Indications
- Deep, dermal closure
- Rarely used now
- Use Vicryl or Dexon instead for Absorbable Suture
- Superficial skin closure (esp. pediatric patients, allowing for no Suture removal)
- Controversial, but typically results in similar cosmetic results as Nonabsorbable Suture
- Fast Catgut for facial Lacerations and plain Catgut for trunk or extremity Lacerations
IV. Background: Catgut
- Derived from sheep intestinal intima
- Poor tensile strength
- Poor knot security
- Plain catgut Suture is quickly absorbed within 8-9 days (5 days for fast gut, 18 days for chromic gut)
- High tissue reactivity (absorbed by proteolysis)
V. Preparations: Catgut Absorbable Sutures
- See Catgut Suture
- Rarely used for deep, dermal Suture and replaced by synthetic Absorbable Sutures (see below)
- May be preferred of the Absorbable Sutures for superficial skin closure (least inflammation)
- Regular, plain catgut Suture (Plain Catgut)
- Effective wound support for 8-9 days
- Used for superficial skin closure of trunk or extremity Lacerations
- Fast-absorbing plain catgut Suture (Fast Gut)
- Heat-treated Suture for faster absorption
- Effective wound support for 5 days
- Used for superficial skin closure of facial Lacerations
- Chromic catgut Suture (Mild Chromic Gut)
- Chromic treated catgut Suture doubles the wound support duration
- Effective wound support for >18 days
- Increased inflammatory response
VI. References
- Epperson in Pfenninger and Fowler (1994) Procedures for Primary Care Physicians, Mosby, Chicago, p. 3-11
- Lin and Lin in Herbert (2014) EM:Rap 14(11): 8-10
- Mortiere (1996) Principles of Primary Wound Management
- Townsend (2001) Sabiston Textbook Surgery, p. 1552-3
- Howell (1997) Emerg Med Clin North Am 15(2):417-25 [PubMed]
- Moy (1991) Am Fam Physician 44(6):2123-8 [PubMed]