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As the cesarean delivery rate climbs, we are increasingly obliged to determine best practices for the procedure. In particular, averting wound-related complications would lower postcesarean morbidity considerably. Whether skin staples are better than subcuticular suture closure is not known; thus, investigators in Alabama conducted a randomized, controlled trial of the two methods in 393 women undergoing scheduled or unscheduled cesarean deliveries.
Regardless of maternal body-mass index (BMI; mean, 36 kg/m2), women in the staple group were more likely than those in the suture group to suffer wound disruption or infection by 4 to 6 weeks postpartum (14.5% vs. 5.9%; relative risk, 2.5). Most complications consisted of wound disruption (RR, 3.…