US2014170A - Surgical suture and needle - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 10, 1935.

5. J. EVERETT SURGICAL SUTURE AND NEEDLE Filed Oct. 16, 1931 Patented Sept. 10, 1935 ATENT OFFICE SURGICAL SUTURE AND NEEDLE Samuel James Everett, Thornton Heath, England Application (lctoher 16, 1931, Serial No. 569,316 In Great Britain October 27, 1930 4 Claims.

This invention concerns improvements in and connected with rethreadable atraumatic needles and surgical sutures for use therewith.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a surgical needle to which a suture can be quickly and firmly attached without the necessity for threading the suture end through a transverse eye or perforation of a needle.

A further object is to provide a needle and a co-operating suture whereby only a small opening is made in the flesh and the patient is subjected to the minimum of injury and pain.

A further object is to adapt the end of the suture so that it can be quickly inserted into a co-operating channel or the like of the needle and be firmly lodged therein without the necessity for knotting the end of the suture.

According to this invention a rethreadable atraurnatic needle of the kind without a transverse perforation or eye at the closed end is formed with a straight and longitudinal openended channel adapted for interlocking with the end of the suture laid laterally therein. According to a further feature of the invention a suture for use with rethreadable atraumatic needles is formed or provided at its extremity with a swelling or fitting adapted for being removably engaged with a (Jo-operating channel or the like of the needle.

A terminal swelling may be produced by softening, moulding and hardening the end of the suture as will be hereinafter described. A fitting may take the form of a small sleeve of metal or other hard material secured upon the end of the suture. In this manner the known expedient of knotting the end of the suture to form a stop is avoided. The channel of the needle may be formed with an enlarged mouth for the entry of the fitting or swelling on the suture and may have a bore which is adapted to co-operate with said fitting or swelling to retain the suture when the latter is pulled axially. In this manner the suture is securely lodged in the channel in the needle in such fashion as to be substantially enclosed within the cross section of the needle. Said channel may be tapered towards the open end and have undercut sides except at the end having the enlarged mouth for co-operating with the stop on the suture;

One way of carrying the invention into effect will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the extremity of a needle showing one form of channel therein, and

Figures 2-4 are similar views of the ends of different sutures for use with the needle of Figure 1.

With the exception of the head-portion illustr ted, the needle 5 may be of any conventional The needle-head, which should be little or no larger in diameter than the needle itself, is formed, in the construction shown in Figure 1, m with an open ended channel 2 which tapers slightly towards the open end to provide a lodgement for a fitting or swelling formed or provided on the suture. To prevent such fitting or swelling from slipping out of the channel laterally whilst the needle is in use, the sides of the channel may be slightly under-cut, as shown, over the greater part of the length of the channel, the size of the mouth ii of the channel over this part being wide enough to allow of the suture being laid therein but not wide enough for the passage of the fitting or swelling at the suture-end. At the end of the channel 2 opposite to the open end, the mouth of the channel is widened at 4 to permit of the lateral introduction of the fitting or swelling which can then be drawn into the tapered undercut part of the channel serving as a lodgement for'it. The shapes of the channel-part forming the lodgement and of the fitting or swelling may be substantially complementary. The lateral introduction of the suture-end avoids the necessity for threading the suture through an eye in the needle, while the formation of a swelling, or the provision of a fitting, on the suture-end avoids the necessity for knotting the suture.

A form of stop or fitting suitable for use with the needle just described is shown in Figure 2: The suture 5, generally a length of fine gut or thread, is shown provided with a stop in the form of a small silver, stainless steel or like metal 40 sleeve 6 consisting of a short length of tube. Said sleeve, which may be cylindrical but is preferably slightly tapered similarly to the channel 2 is securely attached a short distance from the end of the suture by being shrunk thereover. The suture may then be burnt at the 7 end, as is done in joining belts of gut, though this may not be necessary. For the purpose of shrinking the sleeve the external and internal diameters thereof may be reduced by passing said sleeve, in position on the suture, through reducing rolls or into a die. The finished sleeve 6 may, in practice, he of the same diameter as the suture 5, since the suture may be slightly pressed into the channel 2. In place of a metallic stop,

use may be made of a nonmetallic body of, for example, bakelite or other hard moulded material.

To engage the suture with the needle I. the end of the suture 5 is laid with the stop 6 in the channel 2. A large suture may have to be gently pressed through the part 3 of the channel mouth. The suture is then drawn axially towards the open end of the channel 2 so that the stop enters the tapered undercut part and wedges firmly therein. The suture projects rearwardly from the open end of the channel and in line with the needle, there being no part substantially larger 7 than the needle itself and no projecting part. Consequently a small opening only is made in the flesh so that the patient is subjected to the minimum of injury and pain, while the pulling of the suture through the flesh is greatly facilitated. Also the suture is very easily lodged in the channel of the needle and sutures of varying diameters provided with a stop of the same diameter may, at will, be lodged in the same needle.

When the stitching operation has been completed the end of the suture can readily be removed from the needle by simply loosening the stop from the lodgement and then lifting the suture and stop therefrom. The needle can be rethreaded when required and used again.

Alternatively, a stop for use with the needle shown in Figure 1 may comprise a shaped and hardened end portion of the suture 5. One method of producing a stop 'I (Fig. 3) or swelling 8 (Fig. 4) of this kind is as follows:

The end of a catgut suture is softened by, for example, immersion in water, soda water or the like medium. The soft end of the gut is then moulded or pressed to the required shape of stop, the precise shape being appropriate to the form of needle with which the suture is to be used. The shaped swollen end of the gut may be removed from the mould to dry but is preferably allowed to dry and harden in the mould itself. A contracting mould may be used. If desired, a protective coating, such as a varnish or cellulose preparation, may be applied to the stop formed on the end of the gut or the gut may be impregnated with some such substance as wax or celluloid. This enables the used of the suture to soften the same, as is sometimes desirable, without injuring the shaped and hardened end portion forming the stop. 5

I claim:

1. An eyeless rethreadable atraumatic needle formed at its blunt end with a tapering longitudinal channel which is open at its end and laterally over its whole length for the reception of a 10 suture laid laterally therein, said channel having an enlarged mouth for the entry of a knotless stop on the end of the suture and having undercut sides, between said mouth and the open end, and said channel being adapted to grip and retain said 15 stop when drawn axially into said channel by pulling the suture.

2. The combination of a suture provided with a fitting secured around its end and a rethreadable atraumatic needle formed at its blunt end 20 with a longitudinal channel which is opened at the end and laterally over its whole length, said channel having an enlarged mouth for receiving said fitting when the suture is laid laterally in the channel and having a tapered shape to grip 25 said fitting when the latter is drawn axially into said channel.

3. The combination of a suture formed with a swelling around its end and a rethreadable needle formed with a longitudinal channel which is 3 open at the end and laterally over its whole length, said channel having an enlarged mouth for the entry of said swelling when the suture is laid laterally in the channel and having a shape to grip said swelling when the latter is pulled axially 3 into said channel.

4. In combination with a suture, an eyeless rethreadable atraumatic needle having a crosssection not substantially larger than that of the suture and formed at its blunt end with a longi- 4U tudinal channel which is open laterally and has thin side walls formed to grip the end of the suture when the latter is laid laterally therein and pulled axially into the channel.

SAMUEL JAlVIES EVERETT.

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