This week's clinical tip, courtesy of CDOCS, is designed to help elevate your knowledge and skills around suturing.
Check out the video below from Dr. Doug Smail. You can also visit CDOCS to learn more, and learn more about CDOCS' hands-on workshops.
Video transcript
"Hi. It's Dr. Doug Smail with CDOCS. Today's tip of the day video is on suturing with chromic gut suture and cytoplast PTFE suture. Now the reason I chose these two for this video is because they're the two most common sutures that we're going to be able to use. So let's get started.
"We're going to first start out with chromic, and that's on the bottom of the screen. And as we do this, I'm going to do a four throw technique.
"We're going to do forward, sort of under to over, and then we bring that down tight, and then we're going to duplicate that with another under over. And you notice I pull that little extra there again to get that memory out. And we're going to do another over to under, sort of a forward one, because that really tightens it up. It makes it easier than doing a full surgeon's knot at first. Then we're going to do it over and under to over to lock that up, that locks it. And then we're going to do the opposite again, back to over to under to lock that up. So four throws only gives you two locks, and then we're done.
"Now let's take a look at the cytoplast. Basically the same technique, over to under, again, again, forward in a forward direction, and we're going to bring that down. Now this will tend to slip a little bit -- the cytoplast suture does. So as you see, I'm going to bring that down. And as you take a look very closely, you'll see me tighten it right up, because I've done the two forward doesn't lock it. Now we're going to do the under to over, to lock that up, and then we're going to lock that again with the under to over, and then we're done with that. So four throws is great there too.
"So let's go over the high points. Four throws are fine. You've got to pull it a little extra tight for the chromic because you won't take out any residual memory, and it's great for cinching down membranes, the cytoplast, suture again. Four throws are great hold far, but not too hard. You don't want it to fray. And it's great for closing over GBR procedures.
"I hope you really liked this video, and we'll look forward to seeing you at a CDOCS course in the future. Thank you."
