Suture materials Flashcards
what is the definitino of suture?
Suture is the material used to promote wound healing by surgically joining the margins or ends of the wound and holding them securely together to reduce the tension between them
define suturing:
the process of applying a suture
define ligature
the material used to close blood vesseks and stop haemorrhage
what are some of the charaturistics of suture?
- high tensile strength
- easy to tie p secure knots
- inhibits tissue reactions
- easily steralised
- surface inhibits bacterial ahdhesion
what are the different structure types of suture?
Monofilament – consisting of a single filament with a variable thickness/diameter
Multifilament – comprising bundles of very fine filaments formed into a thicker thread of the desired diameter (they are usually braided)
what is the definition of tensile streength?
the breaking strength per unit area
what is the memory of a suture? what suture has a stronger memory?
the tendancy to retain original configuration (what it was like in the packet)
monofilament has a stronger/higher memory (more difficult to tie safe knots with
define ‘chatter’ and tissue drag of a suture
‘lack of smoothness or friction whilst passing through tissue’
define tissue reation relating to suture:
Tissues respond to the implantation of sutures as they do to other foreign material and can provoke an inflammatory response
what are the advantages of absorable suture?
- they disappear
- low risk of long-term foreign-body reation
what are the disadvantages of absorable suture?
- lose strenght
- limited period of wound support
what are the advantages of non-absorable suture?
- permenant
- provides indefinite wound support
what are the disadvantages of non-absorable suture?
- they do not disappear
- possibility of delayed reactions such as foreign body reation
what are the advantages of braided suture?
- easy to handle
- excellent knotting (very secure)
what are the disadvantages of braided suture?
- greater friction and tissue drag
- more tissue trauma
what are the advantages of monofilament suture?
- minimal tissue trauma
- passes through tissue easily
- no capillary action
what are the disadvantages of monofilament suture?
- harder to handle
- harder to knot
- requires different knoting techniques for greater security
what are the consequences of suture material implantaion?
Suture material is foreign body
** Tissue reaction**
- absorption characteristics
- natural vs. synthetic
- phagocytosis (marcrophages, more agressive) vs. hydrolysis
** Amount of material**
- interrupted vs. continuous
Presence of infection
- monofilament vs. multifilament
what way is cat gut absorberd by the body?
via phagocytosis using macrophages which is more agressive and provokes a bigger body reation
if infection is present or suspected durign a surgery what type of filament should be used?
monofilament as the texture of braided allows for ahdesion and hidign of bacteria and is therefore harder for the host to elimiate
what is the sizing of suture?
the small the number the smaller the suture
0 was the smalles but now there are smaller sizes so 2-0 is smaller than 0 and 3-0 is smaller than 2-0
what are the two sytems for naming suture size?
USP - United States Pharmacopia
Based on tensile strength rather than diameter
11-0 to 7
Increasing size/strength
Metric
1/10mm of diameter of suture (‘2’ = 0.2 mm)
0.1-10
what are the four types of needels showned here?
A - closed (eyed)
B - closed (eyed)
C - split (eyed)
D - swaged
what are the issues of eyed needles?
- double strand of suture material
- multiple use => blunt
- increased tissue trauma
what are the benefits of swaged needles?
- minimal trauma
- single use
- optimal penetration properties
what is the cord length of a needle?
the distance between the needle point and the swage or eye
(not always the same as the radius)
what is the curvature of a needle?
A needle’s radius of curvature is expressed in proportion to a circle
what type of wounds need more curved needles?
deeper wounds
what are the differnt types of points of needles?
- blunt (circular, elliptic)
- sharp (polygonal)
- compound (tapercut, short cutting point, etc)
what is the composition of needles?
stainless alloys so that is bends rather than breaks (ductility)
what are the three parts of the needle?
the point
the body
the eye
that are non-absorbable sutures?
materials that stay in place for an indefinite period
(actually, the definition of this is 60 days) without changing (breaking down) in any way
what metal are metal sutures made from?
stainless steel
what is cat gut made of?
the submucosa of the small intestine of sheep and cattle
what is absorable suture?
materials that are fully degraded and absorbed by the body once placed
