O uso de grampos cirúrgicos como alternativa para dermorrafia de mastectomia em cadelas

Abstract

The mammary tumor is one of the most frequent neoplasms in domestic animals, and adult to elderly intact female dogs constitute the group with the highest incidence of this pathology. Surgical approach using mastectomy technique is considered the gold standard treatment for these tumors in dogs. However, the synthesis step in this procedure, due to the time required and energy expended, is still considered a challenging stage. Therefore, there is a growing number of studies aimed at finding new safe and efficient approaches that reduce the dermal closure time. The use of dermal staples is already a common practice in various surgical procedures in animals and humans, but there are few reports on the use of this material for dermal closure in dogs undergoing mastectomies. Given the above, the objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using surgical staples for the closure of mastectomy incisions in dogs compared to dermal closure using nylon sutures. For this purpose, 50 female dogs were divided into two groups: one group underwent dermal closure with nylon sutures (GF), and the other group underwent dermal closure using surgical staples (GG). Surgical time, local temperature, and wound healing characteristics were measured and evaluated, and the results were recorded in an individual evaluation form. In addition, thermographic analysis of the surgical scar was performed on a subset of the sample. Logistic regression and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to compare the differences between the results obtained for each technique, and the independent samples t-test allowed for the comparison of means between surgical and dermal closure times. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in terms of age, weight, incision size, body size, and reproductive status. The total surgical time was shorter in the staple group (p = 0.011). The dermal closure time was 9.8 times shorter in the staple group compared to the suture group (p < 0.001). The average temperature of the surgical wound was higher in the suture group (p < 0.001). The staple group had a lower occurrence of wound alterations (p = 0.029) and a lower frequency of inflammatory discharge (p = 0.013). The suture group showed a higher frequency of white pixels (p = 0.032) and higher temperature in the surgical wound (p < 0.001). The use of surgical staples was found to be safe and effective for mastectomy closure in female dogs, and it represents an alternative to suture closure. Although it results in an increase in procedure costs, the use of the material helps reduce the total surgical time and the frequency of complications in the surgical wound, which in turn minimizes the possibility of additional costs with postoperative care.