ArticleSurgical endoscopy2026
Use of barbed suture in surgery and the risk of intestinal obstruction: analysis of a large institutional cohort.
Article in Surgical endoscopy, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBarbed sutures have become increasingly popular across multiple surgical specialties due to their self-anchoring design, which eliminates the need for knot tying and reduces operative time. However, concerns persist that exposed barbs may cause postoperative intestinal obstruction by entangling adjacent bowel loops or mesentery. The true incidence of such events in large surgical populations remains unclear.
methodsA retrospective analysis was conducted using an institutional database encompassing all intra-abdominal surgeries performed with barbed sutures from August 2017 to April 2024 at Mayo Clinic facilities. Patient records were screened to identify readmissions and reoperations for intestinal obstruction. Operative notes were reviewed to determine whether barbed sutures were implicated. The primary outcome was barbed suture-related intestinal obstruction; secondary outcomes included all-cause readmission and abdominal exploration for any reason.
resultsAmong 20,260 patients (mean age 58.2 ± 14.7 years; 56.9% female) who underwent intra-abdominal surgery using barbed sutures, 2496 (12.3%) were readmitted. Intestinal obstruction was diagnosed in 264 patients (1.3%), and 102 (0.5%) underwent reoperation for obstruction. An additional 177 patients (0.9%) underwent abdominal exploration for other indications. Across all 279 reoperations, no case of obstruction was attributable to barbed suture use. Alternative etiologies included adhesions, anastomotic leaks, abscesses, bleeding, or hernias.
conclusionsIn this large single-institution cohort of over 20,000 patients, barbed sutures were not associated with intestinal obstruction due to small bowel entrapment. Despite over 260 readmissions for obstruction and nearly 300 abdominal re-explorations, no case was linked to suture entrapment. These findings support the safety of barbed sutures for intra-abdominal use across multiple surgical disciplines and challenge the perception that they predispose to intestinal obstruction.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41535449What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.