2012 OTA Annual Meeting: A Prospective Randomized Comparison of Two Skin Closure Methods in Acetabular Fracture Surgery

103 patients with acetabular fractures who were undergoing the Kocher-Langenbeck approach for surgical repair were randomized to receive skin closure with metallic staples or subcutaneous running Monocryl suture with 2-octylcyanoacrylate (OCA) application. Over a minimum of 1 year, there were two cases of deep infection in the staples group and none in the OCA group. However, the difference in rate of infection was not significant. The OCA group required significantly fewer days from surgery to dry incision than the staples group. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups for the amount of drainage, and time to drain removal. The results indicate that the OCA closure technique does not provide any clinically significant advantages over the current standard.