In Vivo Efficacy Study Showing Comparative Advantage of Bacterial Infection Prevention with Zip-type Skin Closure Device vs. Subcuticular Sutures

Abstract

There remains a lack of understanding of how wound closure methods perform comparatively when exposed to patient-induced movement during healing and how they may contribute to bacterial infiltration in the wound site. The present study attempts to objectively quantify this gap. The study evaluates bacterial penetration and subsequent symptoms of infection of traditional sutures and an emerging tape-based, zip-type wound closure technology under physiologically relevant loading. In an in vivo model to simulate real-world conditions, the latter demonstrates better performance compared to commonly used sutures, holding the wound intact and minimizing bacterial penetration when subjected to simulated patient movement-induced stress.