Effect of Stitch Length on Complications

We very much enjoyed the recent article in the Archives by Millbourn and colleagues evaluating the effect of stitch length following closure of midline incisions on the incidence of wound infection and incisional hernia. These authors systematically challenged the surgical dogma of obtaining large fascial bites when closing abdominal wounds. This study used a novel experimental design with 2 different needle sizes in the treatment groups, ensuring surgeon compliance while maintaining the essential greater than 4 ratio of suture length to incision length.