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.