wound sutures

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Wound Sutures

• Or A Pitch for the Riches of Stitches

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HISTORY OF SUTURE

• 3000 B.C.E healers used linen strips and animal
  sinews to close wounds
• 600 B.C.E cotton, leather, horsehair, and bark
  tree fiber were used in India

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HISTORY OF SUTURE

• Egyptian literature mentions the coating of linen
  strips with honey and flour.
• Most attempts at wound closure resulted in
  tetanus, gangrene, or septicemia

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THE GERM THEORY IS BORN

• Louis Pasteur
• hypothesized that some kind of invisible bugs
  living outside the body might be responsible for
  disease

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GERM THEORY IS CONFIRMED

• Joseph Lister
• disease was a result of disease dust in the air
  that made its way into an open wound during
  surgery
• used carbolic acid in his surgical wounds
• lowered the incidence of surgical infections

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THOSE SHEEP HAD GUTS

• By the early 20th century, most suture materials
  were made from the intestinal walls of sheep
• They called this new material catgut

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THOSE SHEEP HAD GUTS

• Some surgeons still preferred to use linen, silk
• or even kangaroo tendon (!)

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FINALLY, A WAY TO STERILIZE

• 1909 Davis and Geck Co. had perfected a method
  for sterilizing catgut in tubes
• 1930s they developed sutures for specific
  specialties
• surgical gut
• silk
• cotton
• celluloid linen

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SHEEP WERE OFF THE HOOK

• 1960s first synthetic suture fabricated from
  polyglycolic acid
• caused minimal tissue reaction
• sold in tubes

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MODERN SUTURE

• Suture today
• is classified as absorbable, meaning its capable
  of being absorbed by the body
• or non-absorbable, meaning that it resists being
  gobbled up by enzymes

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MODERN SUTURE

• Suture today
• It can be further classified as monofilament,
  made of a single thread
• or multifilament, consisting of multiple, threads
  braided into a single strand

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MODERN SUTURE

• Suture today
• may be natural, meaning that it is made naturally
  occurring substances such as cellulose or animal
  tissues
• or synthetic, consisting of polymers from
  petroleum-based products
• Suture sizes range from 5 (largest) to 11-0
  (smallest)

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SURGICAL NEEDLES

• Needles are available in a wide variety of sizes
  and shapes
• Described by their
• eye (the portion of the needle where the suture
  line is attached)
• point (the end of the needle, which may be sharp,
  tapered, or blunt)
• body (the part of the needle located between the
  suture strand and the point)