Amaryllis (Amy) Dunklee

1st period
Israeli Wound-Closure Technique Aims to Replace Surgical Suturing Worldwide
September 04, 2018
Summary: In Ben Huang’s online article, he spends the majority of the time in his article
discussing a recent innovation being applied in developing countries such as Israel, Kenya and
China. While the device, “Top Closure”, was recently introduced in 2014, it is now being
promoted “ground-breaking solution for soft tissue injuries”. The device works by taking two
clasps on either side of incision/laceration, that are then “adhered” to skin and tightened via cable
to seal said wound. It avoids the many disadvantages that may come with traditional wound
closure such as suturing, which may place high tension on skin. According to the article, the
device allows for itself to “collapse” before too much tension tears skin tissue. He further
summarized that it can be used during surgery to prep incisions. It may also be used to relieve
tension or provide a quick closure on wound through simple cable that connects either clasps.
While the device is beginning to break the medical industry, it’s proven crucial in similar
developing countries where costly materials such as antibiotics, meshes, and skin grafts are
rather limited.
Project Topic Connections: My project is focusing on the different laceration closure techniques
seen in Emergency Medicine. “TopClosure” is another innovation that shows significance at
being applicable in the US’s Emergency Department. It’s true that suturing a patient may take a
costly amount of time, but is often regarded as the most effective form of treatment when closing
any form of laceration. TopClosure is essentially “two clasps” that simply pull together. No
research/findings have been done to suggest that such clasps are more effective than traditional
suturing techniques. Since I will be performing the closure of another laceration for my product,
I think the articles’ product may be useful for later innovations being made in Emergency
Medicine. It also depicted how TopClosure is being used in “tissue pressure injuries”. I think this
is relevant to my project because it’s the same objective for traditional suturing and is applicable
for both surgical and suturing techniques.
Personal Response:
The idea seems intriguing, but I feel without any in-depth research on the products success many
US doctors won’t adopt the practice. I think it’s an amazing device for any severely emergent
situation, or in any developing country. But the risk of infection was not something addressed in
the article. The device is essentially just pulling and holding two flaps of skin together, without
regard to the actual rate of effectiveness. It neither discusses the possibility for infection, which
would probably be increased since you have less surface area of skin being held together.
Traditional suturing places say 6 sutures for a simple laceration. The “TopClosure” device is
solely applied directly in the center, and appears to have staples restricting the skin from
opening. In an extremely timely situation, or developing country, I think it’s an amazing device.
For post-op, it should most likely be followed up with proper antibiotics and suturing for the best
chance of recovery possible.
 Amaryllis (Amy) Dunklee
1st period
MLA Citation:

Huang, Ben. “Israeli Wound-Closure Technique Aims to Replace Surgical Suturing Worldwide

| Health News.” NoCamels - Israeli Innovation News, 4 Sept. 2018,

nocamels.com/2018/09/israeli-wound-topclosure-surgery/.