Ligature is a necessary material in surgical practice

Ligature is a sterile thread of various materials used in medical practice for dressing vessels, tissues, and also for the connection of various organs, bones and joints. Can be used without using a needle.

Use of ligature

Ligature in surgery is used mainly to stop various degrees of bleeding from the injured vessel. The thread, when struck in a cloth, damages their inner shell. It wraps inside the vessel and leads to the formation of a thrombus, which prevents the outflow of blood. To avoid the appearance of massive seals, it is necessary, by manipulating, to separate the large vessels that are ligated from each other. Depending on the goal to be achieved with the use of ligature, absorbable and non-absorbable threads are used.

After the application of the ligature, various complications can arise, related to the suppuration of the wound, untying the knot, and slipping it. Avoid this helps antiseptic treatment of wounds, as well as compliance with the technique of binding vessels. Depending on the threads used, different methods of creating nodes are used. Some of them are highly reliable, others are used extremely rarely.

Natural materials for ligatures

Threads for ligature are made from different materials: silk, flax, catgut, synthetic fibers. Silk ligature is a non-absorbing natural thread. They are distinguished by high strength, which does not disappear over time, practically does not stretch. Securely tied with two knots. Silk threads of different thicknesses are produced in sterile and non-sterile form. For disinfection of the silk master alloy, steam sterilizers, as well as special solution "Pervomur" are used. It is used for emergency purification.

The resorbable ligature is the filaments from the catgut. They are a natural material, made from the muscular part of the small intestine of sheep. It is used for binding of subcutaneous tissue, with surgical intervention in the structure of the liver, for various manipulations, which do not require special reliability for the binding of vessels. Silicone and chrome-plated catgut with higher strength are also produced.

Synthetic materials

A wide application in medical practice has found synthetic threads. They are also resorbable and non-absorbable. The first include octelon, katselon. They do not cause allergic and inflammatory reactions, are more reliable than catgut. Non-resorbable synthetic ligature is nylon, capron, mercilene. They are inferior in strength to silk, in addition, the knot of these materials can untie, so they are pretty smooth. To prevent this, you need to tie three to five knots. Orthodontic practice uses a special ligature - elastic. It connects the arc of brackets. Metal ligature is used to connect bones and joints. Threads must be strong, resistant to corrosion, elastic and smooth. They are made of titanium, silver, nickel wire, steel.