Adherence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius to suture materials commonly used in small animal surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate adherence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) to 5 suture materials commonly used in small animal surgery. SAMPLE: 10 epidemiologically unrelated MRSP isolates (obtained from dogs with clinical infections) that had strong biofilm-forming ability and 5 types of suture. PROCEDURES: The 5 types of suture evaluated were monofilament polyglecaprone 25, monofilament polydioxanone, triclosan-coated (TC)-monofilament polydioxanone, braided polyglactin 910, and barbed monofilament polydioxanone. Suture segments were incubated in standard suspensions of MRSP for 2 minutes. Segments were then placed in tryptone soy broth and incubated overnight. After incubation, segments were rinsed with PBS solution and sonicated to dislodge adherent bacteria. Resulting suspensions were used to create serial dilutions that were plated, incubated overnight, and counted the following day. Bacterial adherence to 1 segment of each suture type was assessed by use of scanning electron microscopy.
RESULTS: There was significantly less adherence of MSRP to TC-monofilament polydioxanone than to polyglecaprone 25, polyglactin 910, barbed monofilament polydioxanone, and monofilament polydioxanone. There was significantly less adherence of MSRP to polyglecaprone than to polyglactin 910. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Barbed suture had a bacterial adherence profile comparable to that for monofilament suture. Adherence of MRSP was greatest for braided polyglactin 910. Use of TC-monofilament polydioxanone can be considered for patients that are at high risk of developing surgical site infections and for which a surgeon chooses a multifilament suture.