GB2112747A - A carrier device for surgical suture material - Google Patents

Abstract

The carrier device comprises a one-piece carrier body (10) made of flexible, resilient polymer foam. The suture material (19, 21) is wound onto the encirculating peripheral surface (12) of the carrier body (10). One end (20) of the suture material is retained in slits (18), while the needle (21) which is on the other end of the suture material is inserted into an oblique section (15) of the peripheral surface (12). The principal flat surfaces (11) of the disc-shaped carrier body (10) are used for the application of printed information and for securely holding the carrier body. Recesses (17) may be provided with which gripping tools may engage during winding on of the suture. The foam may be open or closed-pore, but is preferably an open-cell structure along the winding peripheral surface. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A carrier device for surgical suture material This invention relates to a carrier device for surgical suture material, comprising a carrier body which has a winding surface for winding on a thread of the suture material.

A carrier device of this type is known from German Patent No. 2,700,077 and has a folding sheet on which are positioned a ring for winding on the thread and a small frame made of flexible material for insertion of the needle which is firmly joined to the thread. The carrier device is packed in a sterile covering in the folded-u p condition of the folding card. After the card has been removed from the covering, it is unfolded, the thread is unwound from the ring and finally, the needle is removed from the frame. A disadvanatage of this known carrier device is that in order to remove the suture material, the folding card must initially be removed from the sterile film packing and the card must then be opened. This requires a series of manipulations which may be disturbing during an operation.

Another disadvantage is the fact that the suture material cannot be seen or identified before the sterile film packing is opened, because it is positioned inside the folding card.

Furthermore, carrier devices for surgical suture material are known from German Gebrauchsmuster No. 7,122,075, in which the carrier body is a flat card on which the thread is wound or such carrier devices are known from U.S. Patent No. 3,319,782 in which the carrier body is a folding card into which some previously wound windings of the thread are inserted. The carrier bodies have indentations or incisions for securing the end of a thread or a needle.

If the needle is attached to the cardboard of a card, it may only be extracted from the cardboard against a certain resistance. This gives rise to the danger of the suture material sliding off or to the danger of particles of the carrier body material being entrained. In the case of a thread wound onto a card, the thread must first of all be unwound from the card before it is used for suturing. This has the disadvantage that the needle and thread could become entangled while being removed from the carrier body and a loop or, later, on, a knot could form in the thread. Athread which is removed from such cardboard carriers often has kinks or deformations which may even reduce the breaking resistance of the thread.

The present invention is based on the object of providing a carrier device of the initially mentioned type which is particularly simple in design and is easily arranged for handling and allows simple, easy and reliable handling while the thread is wound on in the factory and also while the user unwinds the thread.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a carrier device for surgical suture material, compris ing a carrier body in the form of a substantially flat plate, the encirculating peripheral surface of which forms a winding surface on which a thread of the suture material may be wound, and wherein the carrier body is designed such that at least one thread end and/or at least one needle may be secured in the vicinity of the peripheral surface.

In the carrier device according to the present invention, the thread of the suture material is wound onto the peripheral edge of a plate, so that the flat sides of the plate are kept free of thread. Thus, the formation of kinks in the thread is ruled out by the avoidance of large deflection angles. The thread may be continuously drawn off from the carrier body by pulling on one end thereof, without a clamping action occurring or loops forming. It is important that the winding surface of the carrier body does not have any sharp-edged angles in the region of 900 or more, at which a blockage could occur while the thread is being drawn off due to the superpositioning of several thread windings.

The carrier body, on the peripheral surface of which the thread is wound, is simultaneously used for securing the end of the thread and/or for securing one or more needles. Thus, it is unnecessary for the carrier body to be positioned for its part on a card or the like, since the body forms the single part of the carrier device. The flat sides thereof may be used for applying printed information, for example instructions for use or details about the type of suture material. These flat sides are not even partly covered by the suture material, so that they are fully available for printing.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the carrier body is made of a polymer foam. This foam should be flexible enough for the needle to be inserted and removed without applying a comparatively large of force and without damaging the needle. The foam should also have a certain elasticity, so that the point of a needle which has been inserted is surrounded and secured thereby. Foams which meet these requirements are known under the names of "Novopolen" or "Alvedit" for example. The carrier body may be made of an open- or closed-pore foam. The use of a reslient foam also has the advantage that the thread may be wound round the carrier body under a very low tension, without the danger of the complete thread winding uncontrollably falling off.This characteristic may be further improved if the foam material is of an open-cell structure along the winding surface, so that the thread has a certain grip on the cell walls through a slight hooking action of its fibres.

According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, the carrier body has two substantially parallel side walls and at least one round front wall.

The second front wall of the carrier body may have two sections extending in each case at an angle of from about 30 to 60 to the side walls. These straight sections are used for the insertion of, and thus for temporarily securing, the needle of the suture material. Thus, the needle is easily accessible and is easy to find, without the space provided in the packing casing for the carrier device needing to be inconveniently enlarged.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in more detail in the following, by example only, with reference to the only Figure of the drawing.

The drawing illustrates a perspective view of a carrier body together with the surgical suture material which is wound thereon.

The carrier body 10 which is illustrated comprises a foam disc having a constant thickness throughout of about 4 mm. The principal surfaces 11 of this disc are flat and the foam pores therein are closed. The encirculating peripheral surface 12 extends at a right angle to the principal surfaces 11 and the foam pores therein are open. The carrier body 10 may be produced by being cut or stamped out of a web- or panel-shaped foam material.

The peripheral surface 12 comprises two parallel side surfaces 13 which are joined together at one end by a front wall 14 in the shape of a circular arc and are joined together at the other end by two straight sections 15. The straight sections 15 extend in each case at an angle of about 40#to the longitudinal central axis of the carrier body (and thus also to the side walls 13) and they meet at a rounded-off point 16.

For holding the carrier body in a suitable device while the surgical suture material is being wound on, recesses 17 are provided in the region of the side walls 13, into which recesses suitable gripping tools of the machine may engage, without hindering the winding procedure. After the winding operation has been completed, the gripping tools may be removed from the recesses 17, below the thread.

In the embodiment which has been described, the mutual spacing of the side walls 13 is 26 mm and the radius of curvature of the front wall 14 is 13 mm. The radius of the rounding-off of the point 16 is 6 mm.

In the present case, the peripheral surface 12 of the carrier body 10 is plane and at a right angle to the principal sufaces 11. However, it may also be designed in the shape of a channel, to also make it difficultforthe thread to jump off at the sides.

The carrier body 10 has several slits 18 running from the peripheral surface 12, in which slits the end of a thread 19 may be secured. The end of a thread which is secured in this manner is illustrated in the drawing at 20. Starting from the secured end 20, the thread 19 has been wound onto the peripheral surface 12 in several windings. The needle 21 is attached to the opposite end of the thread and has been inserted into the peripheral surface 12 in one of the sections 15.

The oblique sections 15 of the peripheral surface 12 have the advantage that all existing needle sizes with their corresponding measurements may be accommodated within an imagined rectangular envelope of the carrier body 10. Thus, the body 10 is likewise suitable for suture material of different thread lengths and needle sizes. Since the thread 19 is wound onto the peripheral surface 12 and thus does not undergo any sharp-edged deflections or any deflections through an angle of more than 100", it is available by simply pulling off, i.e., by pulling on the needle 21. Thus, it is unnecessary to first of all completely unwind the thread 19 before use.With this removal procedure, it should be borne in mind that the end 20 of the thread which is secured in one of the slits 18 may also be removed from the slit 18 by applying a relatively small force, due to the flexibility of the foam material.

Product information which is relevant to the user, such as the thread material, length, pharmacopeia name and needle dimensions etc., is advantageously directly applied onto one or both principal surfaces 11 of the carrier body 10. Consequently, information carriers in the form of separate labels etc., which are otherwise inserted into the packing, do not have to be used. This information may also be printed onto an adhesive label or a film which is then adfixed to the principal surfaces 11.

The suture material carrier 10 which the suture material 19, 21 wound onto its peripheral surface 12 is accommodated in germ-tight manner in a rectangular, transparent packing (not shown). Before the suture material is used, the packing is opened and the suture material carrier 10 is removed with the suture material. The principal surfaces 11 of the carrier 10 are then grasped using thumb and index finger and the suture material may be drawn off by pulling on the needle 21. Instead of a thread having a needle 21 which is firmly attached to one end, a thread may also be wound onto the suture material carrier without a needle, or a thread which has a needle on each end may be wound onto the carrier.

Claims (8)

1. A carrier device for surgical suture material, comprising a carrier body in the form of a substantiallyflat plate, the encirculating peripheral surface of which forms a winding surface on which a thread of the suture material may be wound, and wherein the carrier body is designed such that at least one thread end and/or at least one needle may be secured in the vicinity of the peripheral surface.

2. A carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the carrier body is made of a polymer foam.

3. A carrier device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the carrier body has two substantially parallel side walls and at least one round front wall.

4. A carrier device according to claim 3, wherein the rear wall of the carrier body has two sections extending in each case at an angle of from about 30 to 60" to the side walls.

5. A carrier device according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the carrier body has at least one transverse slit for retaining a thread.

6. A carrier device according to any preceding claim, wherein two opposite recesses are arranged in the peripheral surface.

7. A carrier device according to any preceding claim, wherein the peripheral surface is designed in the shape of a channel.

8. A carrier device for surgical suture material substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.