3.2 | Comparison of outcomes between the barbed suture
and interrupt suture groups
Comparison of suture time and complications between the two groups were
described at Table 2. Suture time was significantly shorter in the
barbed suture group (8.9 ± 8.7
minutes) than in the interrupt suture group
(21.2 ±12.6 minutes). Suture time
in the oral cavity was 9.0 ± 4.1 minutes in the barbed suture group and
15.0 ± 11.6 minutes in the interrupt suture group. Suture time in the
oral cavity with base of tongue defects was 11.8 ± 18.4 minutes in the
barbed suture group and 33.9 ± 5.9 minutes in the interrupt suture
group. Buccal or retromolar closure time was 6.2 ± 1.2 minutes in the
barbed suture group and 17.5 ± 7.1 minutes in the interrupt suture
group. Interestingly, the discrepancy of suture time between the two
groups was more prominent at the deep part of oral cavity and in the
narrow space close to the teeth, such as that encountered at the base of
the tongue and retromolar trigone area.
Complication rates were not significantly different between the two
groups. More than half of the barbed suture group (51.9%) suffered from
a prickling foreign body sensation because of the hard texture, but the
patients of the interrupt suture group (23.1%) revealed painless
foreign body sensation. There was no significant difference of wound
dehiscence and foreign body sensation between the two groups.