Evaluation of the efficacy of a modified method of treating the incisions of the single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery using V-Loc? barbed sutures

This paper describes a modified method of applying unidirectional barbed sutures to treat the incisions of the single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and discusses its safety and feasibility. This was a retrospective analysis of 108 patients who underwent single-port VATS admitted to the Department of Thoracic Surgery, the China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, from April 2019 to April 2020. The experimental group (65 patients) was given unidirectional barbed sutures (V-Loc (TM) sutures) to treat the incision, and the control group (43 patients) had a skin stapler to treat the incision. The complications related to the incisions of the two groups were compared. There was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups regarding incisional infection, incisional splitting, fat liquefaction, and incisional resewing. The pleural fluid outflow from the drainage orifice after removal of the chest tube (0 cases in the experimental group and 7 cases in the control group, P = 0.001) was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group. The scores of the scars showed that the experimental group was significantly better than the control group. The modified method of treating the incisions of the single-port VATS with V-Loc (TM) sutures has good efficacy and safety. It reduces the incidence of pleural fluid outflow from the drainage orifice after removal of the chest tube compared with the traditional stapler suture method, and it has superior cosmetic outcomes.