COATED SUTURES

Abstract: Braided multifilament sutures exhibiting excellent tie-down performance and knot security are provided. The sutures of the invention comprise synthetic, textured braided sutures coated with a coating composition for lubricating the sutures.

Description: This invention relates to surgical sutures coated with a coating material. Suture materials are classified as either absorbable or non-absorbable, and are considered to be absorbable if they disappear from the sewn tissue within a year after surgery. The most commonly used absorbable suture materials are catgut and extruded collagenous materials. More recently, absorbable sutures derived from certain synthetic polymers have been developed and used. Typical of synthetic absorbable polymers used as suture materials are glycolide homopolymer and glycolide-lactide copolymer. Synthetic absorbable materials are generally stiffer than their catgut counterpart, and synthetic absorbable sutures are therefore usually employed in a braided, multifilament construction in order to obtain desired softness and flexibility. Other materials such as polyethylene terephthalate and nylon are also employed in a braided construction as non-absorbable suture materials. Whether absorbable or non-absorbable, synthetic braided multifilament sutures show a certain degree of unsatisfactory roughness or grabbiness in what has been termed their "tie-down" performance, i.e. the ease of sliding a knot down the suture into place. An important handling characteristic of sutures, however, is that they slide easily into place during the knotting process. Contrasted with the ease of knot placement is the ability of the knot to hold the suture, sometimes hereinafter referred to as the property of knot security. While it is desirable that surgical knots easily slide into place and tie, it is also extremely important that the knot holds for an acceptable length of time. Consequently, a number of methods have heretofore been employed in an attempt to improve these two particular characteristics of the suture. Surface coating is the principal method which has been employed to improve tie-down performance. Commonly used coating materials include paraffin wax, beeswax and silicone oil. Other coating materials which have been used for the improvement of tie-down performance are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,047,533, 4,201,216, 4,185,637, 4,105,034, 3,942,532, 4,532,929, 4,027,676 and 4,711,241. Although there has been some improvement in the tie-down performance of sutures including the coating compositions known in the art, the coating compositions have also resulted in a decrease in knot security. The problem of knot loosening has therefore increased, which is a particularly undesirable result. In addition to the attempts at improving the tie-down performance of sutures, means for improving knot security have also been heretofore suggested. One method to improve knot security is to texture the yarn fibers used to form the suture. Textured yarn braided multifilament sutures are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 62-97648 and No. 62-97649. These sutures are not coated and do not exhibit a tie-down performance as good as that exhibited by coated sutures. The inventors of the present invention have found that although sutures with either improved tie-down performance or knot security are known in the surgical arts, braided multifilament sutures having the aforementioned two characteristics are not presently known. We have now found it possible to provide sutures which simultaneously exhibit improved tie-down performance and maintain sufficient knot security. In accordance with the invention, this is achieved by coating the textured, braided yarn suture with a lubricating composition. Surprisingly it has been found that coating the surfaces of textured yarn or fiber braided sutures with a lubricating composition results not only in the maintenance of knot security, but also results in better knot security than that exhibited by uncoated textured sutures. Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an enlarged view of a suture fiber used to form the textured yarn; Figure 2 is a frontal view of a test device for determining tie-down performance; Figure 3 is a detailed illustration of the formation of a knot for use in the test device illustrated in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a representation of a typical chart of an oscillographic recorder for a knot security test; Figure 5 is a partial sectional view (a) and a partial frontal view (b) of the test device used for determining knot security; and Figure 6 is a detailed illustration of a manner for knotting sutures for use in the test device illustrated in Figure 5. The textured yarns of the present invention are braided multifilament yarns, in which the fibers have two-dimensional or three-dimensional crimps, as illustrated in Figure 1. There are a number of methods which can be employed to introduce the crimps into the fibers. Examples include the twisting-untwisting method, false twist method, knit-deknit method, stuffing box method, crimping gear method and friction method. Each of these methods is well known to persons skilled in the relevant art, and can readily be performed by such persons. The present invention can be applied to both absorbable sutures and/or non-absorbable sutures. When absorbable sutures are to be employed, it is preferable to use as the suture material an aliphatic polyester. Such aliphatic polyesters can be obtained, for example, by polymerizing materials such as lactide, glycolide, β-hydroxybutylcarboxylic acid, β-propiolactone, γ-butyrolactone, δ-valerolactone, ε-caprolactone and chitin. When non-absorbable sutures are used, it is preferable to use as the suture material an aromatic polyester or a nylon. Particularly preferred is polyethylene terephthalate. Sucrose fatty acid ester, beeswax, polyoxyethylenepolyoxypropylene glycol, mixtures of stearic acid and copolymers of glycolide and lactide having a low degree of polymerization, gelatin, silicone, paraffin wax and polytetrafluoroethylene are examples of suitable coating materials for use for improving suture tie-down performance in accordance with the present invention. Among above named coating materials, sucrose fatty acid ester, beeswax, mixtures of stearic acid, copolymers of glycolide and lactide having a low degree of polymerization, and paraffin wax are particularly preferred, since sutures coated with these materials also exhibit excellent knot security. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the coating is applied to the suture surfaces as a liquid coating composition which is then solidified. The liquid comprises a solution of the coating material dissolved in a volatile solvent, and solidification is accomplished by volatizing the solvent. The coating solution may also be applied to the sutures by any suitable process, such as dipping the sutures into the solution, spraying the liquid solution on the sutures or moving the sutures past a brush wetted with the coating solution. When a readily meltable coating material is used, the coating material may be heated until it melts and then applied to the sutures by any of the methods described above. In the latter case, solidification of the coating material takes place by cooling. In place of liquiform coating composition, the composition may be comprised of solid which is applied to the suture by passing the suture over or between solid blocks of the coating composition which is transferred to the surface of the suture by a rubbing action. One coating procedure may be sufficient, however, such process may be carried out two or more times. The improved tie-down properties and knot security of the sutures of the present invention can be shown qualitatively and/or organoleptically by comparing the feel of the coated and the uncoated sutures during the tie-down procedure. Furthermore, the improvement can also be shown quantitatively by employing the test illustrated in FIG.2. To perform the tie-down measurement, two sutures, 5 and 6, are intertwined as shown in FIG.3, with one of them fixed at Point A and Point B. One end of the other suture is passed around pulley 3 and attached to weight 4 while applying a force (F) to the other end. The weight which will be used to provide tension preferably weighs between about 50 and about 100 grams. Force (knotting resistance) and fluctuations (roughness value) are measured with the device shown in FIG.2 to evaluate tie-down performance. FIG.4 is a representation of a typical trace of tension fluctuation measured with the device illustrated in FIG.2. The difference in the level between al and bl is the roughness value. The final roughness value measured is the roughness average value which is the difference of the maximum value and the minimum value next to each other; for example, (al - bl) +.... + (an - bn)/n . In other words, the lower the knotting resistance is, the smaller the force required, the smaller the roughness value is and the smoother the tie-down accomplished. The knot securing or knot holding property of the sutures may also be determined quantitatively by a test device illustrated in FIG.5, wherein (a) is a partial sectional view of the device and (b) is a frontal view of the device. The test may be performed as follows. First, a suture 9 is wound around a holding bar 8 having a groove 12 parallel to the axis. The suture is tied down in a manner depicted in FIG.6. (FIG.6 is an enlarged view of 11 in FIG.5(a)). The suture is then subjected to a constant force F at each of the ends of the suture to firmly knot the suture. A weight 10 is then hooked onto the suture as shown in FIGS.5(a) and (b), at a space created by the groove 12. Thereafter, a pressor bar 7, which crosses with the holding bar 8, is moved back and forth in a direction parallel to the holding bar 8, and the number of reciprocating cycles required to completely loosen the knot is counted. In the following non-limiting examples, the test procedures were each performed five times. The reported values represent the averages of five trials per test specimen. EXAMPLE 1 Crimping was introduced into multifilaments composed of glycolide homopolymer by a method of twisting and untwisting the multifilament. That is, the crimped multifilaments were obtained by untwisting already twisted multifilament after heat treatment of the twisted multifilaments for fixing the twist. U.S.P. size 3-0 textured sutures were prepared by braiding the multifilaments. For the purpose of comparison, non-textured sutures having no crimp were also prepared. Three different kinds of coating materials, sucrose fatty acid ester, beeswax and silicone were then applied to each of the test sutures surfaces. The coating of the sutures with the lubricating material was accomplished as follows: (1) Sucrose fatty acid ester (Coat A). 50 grams of sucrose fatty acid ester were mixed with one liter of ethyl acetate. The mixture was then placed in a 60°C water bath to dissolve the sucrose fatty acid ester. In this example, a fatty acid composed of stearic acid, palmitic acid and acetic acid reacted with sucrose was used as the sucrose fatty acid ester. The hydroxyl value of the fatty acid ester was less than 20. Sutures were then dipped into the coating solution for 30 seconds, while the solution was maintained in the water bath at 60°C. Upon removal from the coating solution, the sutures were dried for 30 minutes under -760 mm Hg at 60°C. The sutures were then analyzed for sucrose fatty acid ester absorption on the basis of weight change. Sucrose fatty acid ester absorption was found to be about 5%. (2) Beeswax (Coat B) 200 grams of beeswax were dissolved in one liter of diethyl ether solvent at room temperatures. The sutures were then placed in the beeswax solution. Upon removal from the beeswax solution, the sutures were wiped lightly with a wet gauze to remove the excess solution. The sutures were then dried for 60 minutes under atmospheric conditions of -760 mm Hg and a temperature of 60°C. The amount of beeswax pick-up was determined to be about 10%. (3) Silicone (Coat C) Silicone oil was sprayed onto the sutures from a distance of about 10 cm. Silicone pick-up was about 30%. Textured and non-textured sutures coated with the three different coating compositions were prepared as described above, and then tested for tie-down performance and knot security. Uncoated sutures were also tested for tie-down performance and knot security for comparative purposes. Tie-down performance was tested using both 50 gm and 100 gm weights. The average results for five trials of each of the test specimens are set forth in Table 1 below. Tie-down performance Knot holding 50g load 100g load K.R. R.V. K.R. R.V. Textured Suture Uncoated 220g 112g 410g 123g 33.4 times Coat A 180 10 330 20 57.4 Coat B 180 11 280 26 46.1 Coat C 200 13 360 17 35.2 Non-textured suture Uncoated 230 108 400 129 13.8 Coat A 190 10 350 22 10.9 Coat B 200 10 300 23 9.8 Coat C 180 12 340 18 6.1 K.R. = Knotting Resistance R.V. = Roughness Value As shown by the results set forth in Table 1, and as expected from information available in the art, tie-down performance of sutures is significantly improved when the sutures are coated with a lubricating material. However, as also shown from the data, knot security decreases when non-textured sutures are covered with such a lubricating material. On the other hand, it has surprisingly been found that the textured sutures exhibit improvement in knot security, even when coated with a lubricating coating. The present invention thus provides sutures which exhibit both excellent tie-down performance and knot security. With the present invention in practice, sutures having one-third less or even preferably one-fifth less roughness value of tie-down performance than uncoated sutures which also have equivalent or better knot security than that of uncoated textured suture, are obtained.

Claims: A multifilament suture comprising a braided yarn of synthetic monofilaments, characterised in that the braided yarn is textured and the suture is coated with a lubricant composition thereby to improve the tie-down and knot security characteristics of the suture. A multifilament suture according to claim 1, characterised in that the lubricant composition comprises a sucrose fatty acid ester, beeswax, polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropyleneglycol, a mixture of stearic acid and a glycolide/lactide copolymer having a low degree of polymerisation, gelatin, silicone, paraffin wax or polytetrafluoroethylene. A multifilament suture according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the textured, synthetic monofilaments of the braided yarn are textured monofilaments of a synthetic glycolide polymer, a glycolide/lactide copolymer, an aromatic polyester or nylon. A method of improving the tie-down and knot security characteristics of multifilament sutures comprising a braided yarn of textured, synthetic monofilaments, characterised by the step or steps of coating the suture with a lubricant. A method according to claim 4, characterised in that the lubricant comprises a sucrose fatty acid ester, beeswax, polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropyleneglycol, a mixture of stearic acid and a glycolide/lactide copolymer having a low degree of polymerisation, gelatin, silicone, paraffin wax or polytetrafluoroethylene. A method according to claim 4 or 5, characterised in that the textured, synthetic monofilaments of the braided yarn are textured monofilaments of a synthetic glycolide polymer, a glycolide/lactide copolymer, an aromatic polyester or nylon. A method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterised in that the suture is coated with said lubricant by the steps of applying to the suture, or immersing the suture in, a solution of the lubricant in a volatile organic solvent, and evaporating the solvent to deposit the lubricant on the suture. A method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterised in that the suture is coated with said lubricant by the steps of applying a molten lubricant to the suture and cooling the molten lubricant in situ on the suture to provide a solidified lubricant coating thereon. A method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterised in that the suture is coated with said lubricant by the step of rubbing the suture with a solid block of lubricant thereby to deposit a coating of lubricant on the suture.

Inventors: KAWAI, TATSUYA, MATSUDA, TAKASHI, YOSHIMOTO, MICHIAKI
Applicants: JAPAN MEDICAL SUPPLY COMPANY, LIMITED
Application year: 1989
Main classification: A61L17
IPC codes: A61L17