Some women may not realize that Panacryl sutures were used in gynecological surgeries including hysteroscopy and laparoscopy, in addition to being used for lower abdominal surgeries.
The sutures were recalled because they allegedly wound up causing problems by not being absorbed properly. Some patients whose sutures allegedly did not absorb properly required additional surgeries to remove the infected sutures. In some cases, over a year passed between the time the sutures were implanted and the time infections arose.
Problems with the sutures allegedly include a high infection rate, scar tissue formation around the suture site, and the body rejecting the sutures by pushing them out of the skin. Because of these problems, the FDA issued a recall of the sutures on March 27, 2006. At the website Johnson&Johnson Gateway, in the product information section, warning number seven notes, "As a braided suture, which is essentially absorbed over 1.5 to 2.5 years, the PANACRYL suture may act as a foreign body over an extended period of time. The surgeon should consider whether use of an absorbable suture is appropriate in specific situations such as in wounds that carry an increased risk of infection or contamination."
Lawyers are investigating possible lawsuits against Ethicon, claiming the company knew about problems associated with Panacryl sutures but released them onto the market anyhow. One former Ethicon official said he warned the company about problems with Panacryl, "a suture whose use resulted in a number of adverse events," but Ethicon ignored his warnings.
According to one report at the FDA website, a person wrote in asking the FDA to require Ethicon to publish a warning about using Panacryl sutures in vaginal gynecologic reparative surgery. The person who wrote the report (likely a doctor) had a number of patients who had adverse reactions to the sutures, including erosion of the suture through the vaginal epithelium. The writer says that the adverse reactions can occur up to two years after surgery and one of his patients required two surgeries to remove remaining Panacryl sutures because of "vaginal drainage and vaginal granulation tissue."
Sutures are a piece of material used to stitch incisions and tears that occur in tissue during surgery. Panacryl sutures, in addition to being used in gynecologic surgery, were also used to reattach ligaments and tendons to bones.
There were 1,061,712 sutures distributed throughout the world. Ethicon, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, marketed the Panacryl sutures.
If you had surgery and have had a bad reaction to sutures that were used in your surgery, contact your physician to determine what type of suture was used. If you have had an adverse reaction to Panacryl sutures, contact a lawyer to discuss your options.