Physical and Handling Characteristics of Surgical Suture Materials

Four different suture materials were studied in this study. Pullout friction was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the handling characteristics. The effects of pullout speed, loads and size of suture materials on suture-to-suture friction were proved. Pullout speed and loads affected both static and dynamic friction resistances, and their D-values. The links of three parameters including pullout speed, size of suture materials, and simulative tissue materials to suture-to-tissue friction were studied. Both the suture-to-suture friction and suture-to-tissue friction decreased with the increase of suture diameter. Then a new simulative tissue model was proposed in the suture-to-tissue friction test.