Smart surgical sutures using soft artificial muscles

Wound closure with surgical sutures is a critical challenge for flexible endoscopic surgeries. Substantial efforts have been introduced to develop functional and smart surgical sutures to either monitor wound conditions or ease the complexity of knot tying. Although research interests in smart sutures by soft robotic technologies have emerged for years, it is challenging to develop a soft robotic structure that possesses a similar physical structure as conventional sutures while offering a self-tightening knot or anchor to close the wound. This paper introduces a new concept of smart sutures that can be programmed to achieve desired and uniform tension distribution while offering self-tightening knots or automatically deploying secured anchors. The core technology is a soft hydraulic artificial muscle that can be elongated and contracted under applied fluid pressure. Each suture is equipped with a pressure locking mechanism to hold its temporary elongated state and to induce self-shrinking ability. The puncturing and holding force for the smart sutures with anchors are examined. Ex-vivo experiments on fresh porcine stomach and colon demonstrate the usefulness of the new smart sutures. The new approaches are expected to pave the way for the further development of smart sutures that will benefit research, training, and commercialization in the surgical field.