New test methods to evaluate the performance of dermatological braided sutures from both the doctor and the patient sides

摘要

Test methods and instrumentations to measure suture tensile performances have been limited to single-pull to failure and knot-pull strength. Though useful, these tests do not thoroughly represent the stresses that sutures experience during wound healing. This paper proposes new test methods to evaluate the performance of dermatological sutures using slippage ratio and recovery deformation based on a realistic representation of suture geometry in wounds. For demonstration purposes, we compared three dermatological knots: square, surgeon's square, and surgeon's granny. Our results confirmed that the knot design and the generated internal forces in the knot led to significant change in suture behavior during the tying and healing process. Suture performance depended greatly on the intensity of internal forces and the ability of knot packing. Among the studied knots, the square knot had the lowest slippage ratio because it showed the best aptitude to tightening, while the surgeon's knot exhibited the highest deformation recovery due to its lower locking ability.