Hypothesis: To test the efficacy of adhesive paper tape in the closure of clean-contaminated wounds following elective colorectal resection.
Design: A prospective, nonrandomized controlled study.
Setting: A medical center that offers a mixture of primary, secondary, and tertiary care services.
Patients: The group undergoing skin closure with paper tape (PT group) consisted of 150 patients. The group undergoing skin closure with interrupted suture (IS group) also comprised 150 patients. All 300 patients underwent elective colorectal resection in 1997.
Main outcome measures: The duration of skin closure, wound complication rate, and cosmetic appearance of the scar at 6 months after operation were compared using the chi(2)test or t test.
Results: The mean +/- SD average duration of skin closure was 116 +/- 23 seconds for the PT group and 457 +/- 64 seconds for the IS group (P<.01). The wound complication rate was 3.3% (3 cases with wound infection; 2 with wound separation) for the PT group and 3.3% (5 cases with wound infection) for the IS group (P = 1.0). No significant differences were found between the narrowest width (mean +/- SD, 2.2 +/- 0.9 mm vs 2.3 +/- 1.0 mm) and widest width (mean +/- SD, 4.7 +/- 2.0 mm vs 4.3 +/- 1.8 mm) of scar formation between the 2 groups at 6 months after the operation. Ninety-eight percent of patients in the PT group reported satisfaction with their scar, compared with 92% in the IS group (P =.03).
Conclusion: Compared with the traditional suture method, paper tape closure in the treatment of clean-contaminated wounds was less time consuming and produced greater patient satisfaction with no increased rate of wound complications.