Teleflex Medical OEM: A braiding process that enables complex suture designs
Teleflex Medical OEM recently announced an advanced braiding technology that can divide a suture into multiple end branches or integrate several “loops” within the strand.
This continuous braiding process can produce variations of complex, divided segments at the end of a suture, or between singular round or flat tape segments. The new braiding technology eliminates the need for expensive and time-intensive manual sewing, according to Gurnee, Ill.–based Teleflex Medical OEM. It also allows for a broad range of configurations that the company expects will to be used in orthopedic applications where two sutures are presently used for fixation.
The company can use the furcated braiding process can be used to customize its high-strength Force Fiber OrthoTape braid, a flat tape, and on its Force Fiber Fusion suture, a product that transitions from round suture to a flat center and back to round suture in one seamless strand.
The furcated suture is for a performance fiber customer who is searching for a continuously braided suture that meets fixation or component performance requirements, according to Jim McCormack, Teleflex Medical OEM’s global marketing manager. “There is potential to use the furcated product with anchor devices where the singular segment would be used with the anchor and the split, or with a fixation button where the suture could be threaded through the furcation segment to create a loop,” McCormack said in an email to MDO.
The company’s challenge was to develop an innovative manufacturing process for braids that met customer expectations for strength and the ability to customize multiple configurations. The bi/tri/quad furcated braids give OEM customers the ability to customize advanced configurations for applications in which a single suture segment might not have worked in the past.
“Furcated-braid suture has potential to be used for orthopedic applications, specifically knee, foot and ankle, shoulder, and elbow,” McCormack said. “An additional potential application could be as a component in manufacturing devices, such as artificial heart valves. The loop within the braid makes it convenient to create a knotless loop.”
