Optimal Suture Choice for Improved Scar Outcomes

July 13, 2009 updated by: Dallas VA Medical Center
Certain parts of the body, such as the chest, back, and shoulders, are notorious for producing cosmetically poor scars after cutaneous surgery. While very little research has been done to understand these poor outcomes, it is generally thought that increased tension across the skin inherent to these body areas leads to significant widening of the final scar. Historically, the only way to combat this tension was to support the deeper portion of the wound with sutures that dissolve over several weeks. However, scars take many months to fully develop their greatest strength. So even with the standard technique, wounds in areas of high tension still show spreading of the scar with time. The investigators believe that these wounds require an extended duration of support throughout the scar's maturation period. Until recently, there did not exist a suture that could provide this long duration of support without also carrying the risk of the body rejecting it. Recently, a new extremely long acting absorbable biomaterial has been FDA approved for use as a suture. The investigators plan to use this suture to test the theory that alleviating stress on high tension wounds throughout the period which they gain their maximal integrity produces less scar spread and ultimately better cosmetic outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

25

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Dallas, Texas, United States, 75216
        • Dallas VA Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Patients requiring excision of a lesion on chest, back, or shoulders

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of ionizing radiation
  • History of keloid or hypertrophic scarring
  • History of or current internal malignancy
  • History of bleeding disorder
  • History of collagen or elastin disorder
  • Current use of immunosuppressive medications

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Tepha
Procedure: Intradermal Suture
Active Comparator: Vicryl
Procedure: Intradermal Suture

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Scar spread
Time Frame: 3 months and 1 year
3 months and 1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Scar appearance
Time Frame: 3 months and 1 year
3 months and 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Dallas VA Medical Center

Investigators

  • Study Director: Kevin F Kia, MD, Dermatology, UT-Southwestern

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

June 1, 2010

Study Completion (Anticipated)

July 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 13, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 13, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

July 14, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 14, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 13, 2009

Last Verified

July 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ASDS-45322

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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