SURGICAL SUTURES- A NECESSARY UPDATE OF KNOWLEDGE

BySunil

As a result of injury, a wound develops on the skin. If these wounds are left untreated, it leads to several medical complications on the wound site like infection, inflammation, etc. Health professionals use a special device to close a wound on your skin or other tissues, this device is called a surgical suture. It is a medical device that consists of a thread and a needle to join together the body tissues after an injury or after surgery. There are numerous surgical suture manufacturer companies around the world. Due to the increasing surgical procedures, there is a rise in the growth of surgical suture companies.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SURGICAL SUTURE:

  • Production of raw polymer– Firstly, the chemicals are measured and put into a chemical reactor. In a chemical reactor, the chemicals get polymerized and break into tiny pellets.
  • Extrusion – An extrusion machine is made up of tiny holes. When the tiny pellets pass through this machine they get melted and pass down through the holes as many individual filaments.
  • Stretching of filaments – The filaments are stretched between two rollers. As a result, the filaments increase almost five times their orignal length.
  • Braiding-It is usually an automatic step. In the braiding machine, the filaments are produced into a continuous strand of braiding material.
  • Secondary processing– The non-braided filaments undergo secondary processing after extrusion and stretching. These are passed over a hot plate and any lumps or snags are eradicated
  • Annealing– In this step, the suture is passed to an annealing oven in which the suture is subjected to high temperature and tension. Its crystalline structure changes into a long chain. Depending upon the material, it may take from few minutes to several hours.
  • Coating– Coating material may be liquid or like paste called slurry. After annealing, the suture is subjected to a bath with the coating material.
  • Quality testing– At this step, the quality assurance workers make sure that the suture is proper in length, strength, diameter, dissolvability of an absorbable suture in animal test-tube, etc. If the suture meets all the parameters then it is sent to the finishing plant.
  • Swaging– Needles are made up of fine steel and sent to the finishing plant. Here the suture is cut into standard lengths and inserted into the hollow in the needle and the needle is crimped onto the fiber.
  • At last, the suture and needle are inserted into a foil packet and sterilized.

After all the above steps, the foil packets are sealed and packed into boxes or any other packaging material for shipment to a particular place. There is a wide range of surgical suture companies in India. These companies are certified and engaged in the manufacture and export of surgical sutures. They should be customer-focused and establish reasonable prices for the buyers. New sutures are being manufactures from time to time. The surgical suture market in India has experienced a quick growth rate due to the increasing application of surgeries over the years.