pharmaceutical technology Surgical products

23. SURGICAL SUTURES AND LIGATURES
• Surgical sutures and ligatures are threads or strings
specially prepared and sterilized for use in surgery.
• Sutures are used for sewing tissues etc together.
• Ligatures are used for tying blood vessels and
other tissues.
• Different type of materials are in use for these
purposes. They are intestinal tissues and tendons
of a large assortment of animals and birds, various
kind of thread spun from vegetable fibers, human
hair, horse and camel hair, synthetic threads and
metallic wire.

24. Essential Properties of Sutures and ligatures
• They must be sterile.
• Their strengths must be adequate for the purpose for which
they are used.
• They must not cause any irritation as far as practicable.
• Their gauge should be as fine as possible.
• If absorbable, approximate time of absorption should be
known.
CLASSIFICATION
Measurements of in-vivo degradation of sutures and
ligatures generally separate them into two classes.
• Sutures that undergo rapid degradation in tissues losing their
tensile strength within 60 days are considered absorbable
sutures.
• Those that retain their tensile strength for longer than 60
days are non absorbable sutures/ligatures.

38. Cellulose based (cotton),
• Protein cellulose (silk),
• Processed collagen (catgut),
• Nylon,
• Polypropylene,
• Aramid,
• Polyglycolic acid (Dexon*),
• Polyesters,
• Polytetrafluoroethylene,
• Steel,
• Copper,
• Silver,
• Aluminum,
• Various alloys,
• Ticron*
• Ethilon*
• Prolene*
• Ethiflex,
• Polygalactin 910
• Polyglycolide-lactide polymer
(Vicryl*)
• Polydioxanone (PDS*)
• Polyglecaprone 25
(Monocryl*)
• Polyglyconate (Maxone)
• Ethibond
LIST OF MANY OF THE COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE TYPES OF SUTURES: