Problems and prospects for development and production of surgical suture materials

The assortment and user qualities of biologically inert, synthetic, absorbable, and nonabsorbable thread has approached the limit of the requirements imposed by modern surgery. Further progress in this area can be anticipated if manufacturing processes for production of strong and elastic thread made of biocompatible absorbable natural polymers - polyoxyalkanoates (polyoxybutyrate, polyoxyvalerate and their copolymers), collagen, chitin, chitosan, alginate, etc., are developed. The attention of investigators is increasingly focusing on suture materials with both individual and comprehensive biological activity. Creation of thread containing native biological structures (cell growth factor, blood plasma proteins, cells of different organs and tissues, and other cells, including those that increase biocompatibility) and self-regulating materials with biologically active molecules in their structure capable of markedly altering their properties under small external physical or chemical effects, is promising.