Catguts are absorbable surgical sutures prepared from sheep intestines. They are prepared through a multi-step process including selection of intestines, washing, splitting, scraping layers, orientation of fibers, hardening, spinning, drying and finishing. Catguts are sterilized through heat, chemical or ionizing radiation processes. They are classified as boilable or non-boilable depending on their composition. Catguts degrade in the body within 90 days and maintain tensile strength for at least 7 days, making them suitable for tissue healing. However, they have now been replaced largely by synthetic polymers.

1. Topic - SURGICAL CATGUTS
Presented by –
Name- Madhurima Nandy;
Stream- B.PHARM
Year- 6th semester, 3rd year.
Institute- Guru Nanak institute of
pharmaceutical science and
technology

3. C
SL NO. TOPICS SLIDE NO.
1. Introduction 4
2. Preparation of catguts 5-6
3. Sterilisation 7
4. Classification of
catguts
8
5. Standards 9
6. Conclusion 10
7. Reference 11
CONTENT

4. IIN
INTRODUCTION
 A Surgical suture is a strand or fibre used to hold
wound edges in application during healing. It is
further classified into- i)absorbable ii) non-
absorbable
A ligature is a thread or string without a needle
which is used to tie blood vessels and other
tissues together.
Catgut or surgical guts are absorbable sutures
prepared from intestine of the sheep. The name
is derived from the word “kit”-”gut” means small
violin.

5. PREPARATION OF CATGUTS
iv) Removal of unwanted layers - The gut consists of 4 layers-
mesentric, muscular, submucous and mucous layers. All submucous
layer are scraped away mechanically by blunt knife
iii) Splitting- The intestinal tube is fitted over the end of a flat curved
peg and then splitted longitudinally with knife into “smooth” ribbons.
ii) Selection and Washing- The intestines are washed thoroughly with
water. Poor samples are rejected.
i) Raw material-When sheep are slaughtered the intestine are roughly
washed and placed in cold brine for transport

6. Continuation..
v) Orientation of fibres- During above scrapping process the
constituent fibres of gut become arranged in more parallel way.
vi)Hardening- at this stage the ribbon may be tanned or hardened by
soaking in the solution of chromic salts.
vii)Spinning- the ribbons are next tied at the ends in group of two,three or
more, depending on the gauge of thread to be prepared , pulled to an even
tension and spun.Chromicising can be done
viii) Drying- This is done in an atmospheric condition with regard to
temperature and humidity.
ix)Finishing- The dried strings are rubbed against an abrasive surface
to produce a smooth, uniform string of circular section.

7. STERILISATION
HEAT
PROCESS
• Tubing
• Drying
CHEMICAL
PROCESS
• Guts are sterilised by immersing them in
iodine solution.
IONIZING
RADIATION
PROCESS
• Guts are packed in aluminium foils
containing 90% isopropyl alcohol and passed
through gamma irradiation.

8. CLASSIFICATION OF CATGUTS
Catgut
Boilable catguts
–if tubing is
anhydrous then it
is boilable
Non-boilable
catguts- If tubing
contains alcohol and
small water which
avoids heat
sterilisation is non-
boilable

9. STANDARDS
•All catguts for surgical use are indicated or described under
British Pharmaceutical Codex.
•STERILITY TESTS- Such test must take into account the fact
that bactericides are likely to be present in tubing fluid.
•GAUGE- This is measured by means of a dial reading
micrometer at several points along the strand and after the gut
has been conditioned above.
•TENSILE STRENGTH- This is done by means of a machine in
which the load necessary to rupture the gut is measured, the
test being performed on “straight” and “knotted” samples.

10. CONCLUSION
• So, it can be concluded that catgut suture is a
type of surgical suture that is naturally
degraded by body’s own proteolytic enzymes.
• Absorption is complete by 90days and full
tensile strength remains for at least 7days.
• This eventual disintegration makes a good for
use in healing tissues.
• But, now it is replaced by synthetic polymers.

11. REFERENCE
BOOK: Cooper& Gunn’s Tutorial pharmacy
6th edition
Page no: 429-432