An expanded surgical suture and needle evaluation and selection program by a healthcare resource management group purchasing organization.

The purpose of this report is to describe an expanded suture and needle clinical evaluation program jointly designed by hospital representatives of Consorta, Inc. (Rolling Meadows, Illinois), a leading healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization, and United States Surgical/Davis & Geck Sutures (Division of United States Surgical, Norwalk, Connecticut). In this expanded evaluation program, 42 Consorta shareholder hospitals enrolled 1913 surgeons to participate in Phase II of this non-experimental observational study of the clinical performance of surgical needles and sutures. Performance characteristics of the sutures and needles produced by USS/DG that were evaluated in 25,545 surgical procedures included packaging/ease of opening, needle strength and sharpness, tissue drag, knot security, tensile strength, clinically acceptable determinations, and clinically unacceptable determinations. In these 30-day studies, the surgeons found that the needles and sutures were clinically acceptable in 98.1% of the evaluations. The general, cardiothoracic, and orthopedic surgeons who performed 61.2% of the product evaluations reported that the suture and needle products were clinically acceptable in 98.2% of the evaluations. Nearly half (49.2%) of the evaluations involved the POLYSORB* braided synthetic sutures that received a clinically acceptable rating in 98.2% of the evaluation. The silk suture (SOFSILK*), followed by the monofilament nylon suture (MONOSOF*), were the next most frequently used sutures. The SOFSILK* was found to be clinically acceptable in 99.2% of the evaluations, while MONOSOF* was noted to be clinically acceptable in 98.7% of the evaluations. Surgical needles made by USS/DG Sutures also had a high rating of clinical acceptability (97.9%).