Suturing Apparatus

a semiautomatic device for uniting tissues in surgical operations. It assures a stable and hermetic suture and exact apposition of the tissue edges.

In 1908 the Hungarian physician L. Adam was the first to use mechanical sutures, and in 1924 the Hungarian surgeon A. Petz introduced an apparatus to suture the stump of the stomach to that of the intestine with metal staples. In 1950 a team of Moscow engineers and physicians constructed the first apparatus for suturing blood vessels.

All suturing apparatus consist of three main parts: a suturing mechanism, a securing device, and a drive. The basic structure of the suturing mechanism is identical in all the apparatus. A pusher drives a U-shaped staple downward; its ends are set in special sockets and the staple assumes a B shape. The metal staples of the suturing apparatus, unlike such soft suturing materials as silk and catgut, do not cause inflammation in the area of the suture.

Surgeons use suturing apparatus in operations on the lungs, blood vessels, heart, and abdominal organs. In the USSR, for example, standardized suturing apparatus are used to unite blood vessels with circular end-to-end and end-to-side mechanical sutures. Other suturing apparatus, such as the ASTs-4 and ASTs-20, are also used for end-to-end sutures. Single-staple and multi-staple suturing apparatus are used for the longitudinal suturing of vessels. The UKB suturing apparatus is used to suture the stump of a bronchus, the UAP for an open ductus arteriosus (duct of Botallo), the UKZh for the stump of the stomach, and the SGR for certain bone structures.