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Microvascular Anastomosis Using 'Continuous Suture with Interrupted Knot' Technique

While the conventional end-to-end anastomotic technique is accepted as 'the golden standard' for microvascular anastomosis, it is time-consuming and tedious. In an effort to offer faster and safer ways of performing microvascular anastomoses, numerous anastomotic techniques have been proposed, but further refinements in microvascular techniques are still necessary. A 'continuous suture with interrupted knot' technique was devised for faster and safer anastomosis. It has been successfully used in microanastomoses of both artery and vein for free tissue transfer. It is a combination of the interrupted suturing technique and the continuous suturing technique. First, a continuous suture is made with the size of loop decreasing in order, and then the sutures are tied individually from the first loop to the last one as in the conventional interrupted suturing technique. It was applied clinically to fourteen patients over the past ten months and found to be a highly efficient technique that satisfied our needs. This 'continuous suture with interrupted knot' technique has several advantages over other techniques : The operative time is reduced comparing conventional interrupted suture technique. By delaying the tie and with the vessel walls kept separated, the risk of through-stitch can be reduced. Tying all the sutures at one time not only speed up the procedures, but also reduced the surgeon's fatigue. In addition, it has no problem of anastomotic stenosis which is a disadvantage of continuous suture technique. This technique proved to be faster and safer, and has patency equal to that of the conventional end-to-end anastomosis. It is of great help to the surgeon in reducing operative time, especially in clinical situations when many anastomoses are required, or lengthy grafting procedures are undertaken.