Importance: Sutureless gastroschisis repair offers an alternative to the traditional sutured method and has been associated with decreased intubation time. Published study results are inconsistent regarding the advantages of sutureless closure.
Objective: To compare the clinical outcomes of sutureless and sutured gastroschisis repair.
Design, setting, and participants: A single-center cohort review was performed of all consecutive patients (n = 97) who underwent gastroschisis repair from February 1, 2007, to April 30, 2017, at the University of California, San Francisco. Patients' medical records were evaluated for clinical characteristics and outcomes. Cases with incomplete data during initial hospitalization were excluded.
Main outcomes and measures: Length of hospital stay, time to full enteral feeds, total parenteral nutrition duration, days requiring intravenous analgesia, days intubated, wound infection rate, antibiotic treatment duration, rate of umbilical hernias that required an operation, and readmission rate.
Results: In total, 97 patients (47 [48%] were female and 50 [52%] were male with a mean [SD] age of 2.8 [2.8] days) underwent gastroschisis repair, of which 7 were excluded for incomplete medical record. Of the 90 patients included in the study, 50 (56%) underwent sutured closure and 40 (44%) underwent sutureless closure. No statistical difference was found between the sutured and sutureless groups in length of hospital stay (mean [SD] days, 43.9 [40.4] vs 36.7 [21.2]; P = .71), time to full enteral feeds (mean [SD] days, 31.4 [20.2] vs 27.9 [17.3]; P = .22), total parenteral nutrition duration (mean [SD] days, 33.5 [29.8] vs 27.4 [18.2]; P = .23), wound infection rates (14 [28%] vs 10 [25%]; P = .81), and readmission rates (5 [10%] vs 7 [18%]; P = .36). The sutureless group, compared with the sutured group, had substantially fewer days receiving antibiotics (mean [SD], 7.2 [6.4] vs 12.4 [13.2]; P = .003), fewer days intubated (mean [SD], 2.8 [3.3] vs 6.8 [1.3]; P = .001), fewer days receiving intravenous analgesia (mean [SD], 4.2 [4.0] vs 7.1 [4.5]; P = .003), and fewer patients that required silo reduction (25 [63%] vs 48 [96%]; P < .001). Sutureless closures, compared with the sutured technique, had considerably more umbilical hernias requiring surgical repair (5 [13%] vs 0; P = .02).
Conclusions and relevance: Sutureless repair of gastroschisis appears to be associated with a statistically significant reduction in mechanical ventilation duration and pain medication requirements but may increase umbilical hernia risk. Multicenter randomized clinical trials are necessary to determine the true advantages of the sutureless approach.