Chapter 4: Table of Contents
- 4.8 Cruciate Pattern
- 4.9 Cushing Pattern
- 4.10 Ford Interlocking Pattern
- 4.11 Intradermal Pattern
- 4.12 Lembert Pattern
- 4.13 Mattress Suture Patterns
- 4.14 Modified Transfixing Ligature
- 4.15 Purse-String and finger trap
- 4.16 Simple Continuous Pattern
- 4.17 Simple Interrupted Pattern
- 4.18 Skin Staples
- 4.19 Subcutaneous closure & How to bury a knot
- 4.20 Suture Material and Patterns Quiz
A skin stapler places rectangular stainless steel clips in a row to appose skin edges. It provides a means for closing a wound or incision rapidly and can also be used to attach drapes to the skin during surgery. The staples are made of a stainless steel alloy (316L), the same as the stainless steel suture material. It is essential that the staples be placed properly to ensure the animal is unable remove them, that the tissue is not cut when the tissue swells and that the staples don’t fail and allow dehiscence. Upon healing, a staple remover is needed to remove the staples. A technique that uses stainless steel skin staples to close enterotomy incisions and appose bowel ends when performing an end-to-end anastomosis has been described.
