Evaluation of a Novel Surgical Stent to Minimize Suture Pressure Necrosis in Marine Mammals
Abstract
Applying domestic animal surgical techniques to marine mammals is limited by numerous challenges.1 One of the most prevalent of these challenges is difficulties encountered with wound and incision closure.1,2 Following closure of incision sites in cetaceans, pressure necrosis secondary to suture placement is often encountered, even when using tension-relieving techniques. The current solution is to incorporate stents into tension-relieving sutures. While this method increases the amount of time prior to suture pullout, clinical experience indicates that pressure necrosis occurs over a smaller area. Our study aims to assess how effectively stents relieve suture pressure and whether a novel silicone stent is more effective than traditional stents in pressure distribution in vitro. We hypothesized that a) stents would relieve suture pressure better than the control and b) that the novel silicone stent would allow better pressure distribution than traditional stents. Using pressure mapping technology to determine which method best distributes pressure when sutured to a tissue analog, we compared novel silicone stents of the same size but variable durometer, a red-rubber catheter stent, and a control with no stent. All of the silicone variants and red-rubber stent methods were tested ten times, using a new respective stent each time. Similarly, the control method was also tested ten times. The silicone stents allowed more even pressure distribution than the red-rubber stent and the control. The softer durometer silicone stents allowed more even pressure distribution than the harder durometer silicone stents. These results suggest that stents can be an effective tool when closing wound and incision sites in cetaceans. Furthermore, the creation and refinement of novel silicone stents can ultimately help improve the surgical standard of care of marine mammals.
* Presenting author
+ Student presenter
Literature Cited
1. Higgins JL, Hendrickson DA. 2013. Surgical procedures in pinniped and cetacean species. J Zoo Wildl Med. 44(4):817–836.
2. Sweeney J. 1990. Surgery. In: Dierauf L, ed. CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; p 215–233.