04.02 Needles & Sutures - Sutures
In this module you will learn about the different types and properties of needles and sutures.
In this module
04.02 Sutures
A suture is a strand of material used to approximate (sew) or to ligate (tie) tissues. Suture material is a foreign body implanted into human tissues and it elicits a foreign body tissue reaction.
Sutures may be:
- absorbable or non-absorbable
- naturally occurring (biological) or synthetic
- monofilament (made out of one strand of material) or multifilament (made by twisting or braiding several smaller filaments into a single structure).
In general, monofilament sutures elicit less tissue reaction than braided (multifilament) sutures, and non-absorbable sutures elicit less tissue reaction than absorbable sutures.