DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2021.v09i06.038

Pages: 1056-1061

Episiotomy, a very common surgery in obstetrics meant to reduce difficulty during delivery of the baby can itself be the cause for distress if it lands up in complications. Many of these complications like pain and swelling in the wound, induration, urinary retention, feeling of uncomfortable stitches, wound dehiscence etc. are related to the type of suture used for repair. This study is aimed at comparing the clinical outcomes following episiotomy wound repair using the two commonly used absorbable sutures chromic catgut and fast absorbing polyglactin 910 (vicryl rapide). 200 patients were included in the study with half of them undergoing repair with chromic catgut and the remaining half with vicryl rapide. They were evaluated at 24-48 hrs, 3-5 days and at the end of 6 weeks. Factors considered were pain and swelling around episiotomy, need for analgesia, induration, feeling of uncomfortable stiches, wound dehiscence, wound healing etc. It was observed that Pain score and need for analgesia were significantly less in the vicryl rapide group at 24-48 hours and 3-5 days, as well as the patients with complaints of uncomfortable stitches (11% vs. 27%), wound indurations (11% vs. 23%), wound discharge (infection) (8% vs. 19%) and wound dehiscence (7% vs. 16% at 3-5 days and 8% vs. 16% at 6 weeks). Dyspareunia was also less in the vicryl rapide group (9% vs. 21%). Wound healing was also observed to be better in the vicryl rapide group than the other group. So it was concluded that fast absorbing polyglactin is a better suture for episiotomy wound repair than chromic catgut considering the lesser complications and better healing with it.