Characteristics of novel monofilament sutures prepared by conjugate spinning

Compared with braided multifilament sutures, absorbable monofilaments are attractive suture materials as they exhibit less tissue drag and cause less tearing because of their smooth surfaces. However, monofilament sutures are less flexible and more difficult to tie a knot than multifilament ones, and their knots are more likely to loosen due to inferior knot security. Although various approaches have been reported to improve the flexibility of monofilament sutures, they still have limitations regarding poor knot security. To address this problem, we developed a novel technique to fabricate monofilament sutures by a conjugate spinning method, resulting in the formation of a sea/islands type of bicomponent monofilament suture. These sea/islands type bicomponent monofilament sutures, which can place many fine strands of a polymeric fiber within a matrix of another polymer, exhibited excellent knot security, flexibility, and low strain energy, compared with commercially available monofilament sutures.