INFECTION in clean wounds following the use of surgical silk or cotton sutures is relatively uncommon when careful technic is employed. When infection does occur, it is usually minimal and produces a small stitch abscess or sinus tract. In rare cases a late infection develops several months following the primary operation, which forms a small abscess about one or more sutures surrounded by granulation tissue and a dense wall of fibrous tissue.
The following 5 cases are examples of granulomatous lesions which developed after the use of surgical silk and cotton in clean wounds (fig.).
REPORT OF CASES
Case 1.
—H. V., a youth aged 19, was operated on March 6, 1941, for an indirect inguinal hernia on the left side. Size 000 interrupted surgical silk U. S. P. was used. Size 0000 surgical silk was used for ligatures. The wound healed per primam. Two months later some discomfort was