Watertight sutures with fibrin glue: an experimental study.

A rat model was developed to test the watertightness of sutures and used to evaluate the value of fibrin glue (Tissucol, Immuno France, Tisseel, Immuno U.S., Inc.) in making conventional sutures watertight. Fibrin glue raised the mean hydrostatic pressure to which the skin suture resisted from 9.1 to 26.3 cm H2O, thus indicating that it enhances suture watertightness immediately after surgery. After 3 and 6 days, the pressure was increased, respectively, from 24.8 to 47.9 and from 56.5 to 73.3 cm H2O. For bladder sutures, the results are comparable.