Barbed suture reduces blood loss in hysterectomy

Contemporary OB/GYN:

Hi, I'm Celeste Krewson with Contemporary OB/GYN, and I'm here with Nicola Tavella to discuss the impact of barbed suture on blood loss during hysterectomy. Do you want to introduce yourself?

Nicola F. Tavella, MPH:

Sure, yes. Hi, thank you. My name is Nico Tavella. I'm the clinical research program director for maternal fetal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

Contemporary OB/GYN:

So, to get started, can you go over some of the benefits of reducing blood loss during hysterectomy?

Tavella:

Yes, of course. So, you know, when we understand morbidity that's associated with deliveries and with birth, one of the first things we think about is mode of delivery, related to cesarean vs vaginal delivery, and one of the primary contributors to morbidity for both patients and their newborns is the loss of blood during the delivery itself. And so, any way that we can mitigate blood loss during the delivery is an improvement in terms of clinical outcomes. And so, you know, this study really started because we were interested in ways in which we could mitigate that.

Contemporary OB/GYN:

And what did your study showcase for the impact of barbed suture on blood loss during hysterectomy?

Tavella:

So our study was a randomized control trial where we randomized 113 patients in each group to either receiving the barbed suture or the standard, you know, conventional suture that's used in these kinds of procedures, and specifically for the closure of the uterine incision. And what we found was that the use of the barbed suture, when we applied logistic regression modeling including different confounders that are potentially going to affect blood loss in deliveries, we found that the barbed suture did have a significantly reduced average blood loss among the deliveries.

Contemporary OB/GYN:

And what are some clinical takeaways of this information for clinicians to bring into their practice?

Tavella:

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, I think there's certainly a lot more research that needs to be done. This is one of the first RCTs in which this kind of outcome has been examined in this specific, you know, systematic of a way. And so, I think the first step is to make sure that we have more robust research that confirms these kinds of findings. But I also think it begs the question of, you know, considering the materials that are being used in deliveries in such a way that we're maximizing patient outcomes relative to the cost of those materials for the given institution.

Contemporary OB/GYN:

Those are great points. We're just about ready to wrap up, but is there anything you want to add first?

Tavella:

No, that's it. Thank you so much for having me and for taking the time to talk about this.

Contemporary OB/GYN:

Well, thank you for speaking with me.