Iranian researchers from Isfahan University of Technology used nanotechnology to produce surgery suture.
The suture is biodegradable and has been produced and tested at laboratorial scale and is made of nanofibers.
Parallel to the development in nanotechnology in recent years, the production of nanofibers through electrospinning method and the production of thread from nanofibers have attracted the attention of many researchers. The use of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers in electrospinning process and the production of thread from the polymers results in the fabrication of products for specific purposes, including surgery sutures and drug delivery systems.
According to the researchers, absorbable surgery suture has been produced in this research by using poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) that is a biodegradable polymer, and its characteristics such as mechanical strength has been investigated. The produced suture was compared with other sutures in the market, and it was turned out that the new suture has a faster degradation rate. It also has less capillary than other commercial sutures. Capillary is an important factor in the diffusion of infection of the wound into the suture, and therefore, suture should not have capillary properties.
In order to obtain the desirable properties, the parameters that affect electrospinning, including solution concentration, voltage, and the amount of feed in the polymeric solution were optimized in the first stage. After the optimization, the researchers studied the mechanical properties of the suture including the strength of suture without tie, and tied with two surgical ties (square tie and surgeon tie). Since strength is one of the most important characteristics of sutures, the properties of the suture were modified by designing stabilization system and by studying the stabilization conditions.
Results of the research have been published in Fibers and Polymers, vol. 15, issue 1, 2014, pp. 71-77.