title: Future trends in endoscopic suturing.
abstract: This paper deals with future aspects and developments in endoscopic sutures, needles, needle drivers, and sewing devices. Shape memory alloys such as superelastic nickel-titanium can be used for surgical needles and hingeless needle drivers. A sewing device consists of a T-Needle which can be shuttled between the jaws of specially designed instruments. The jaws possess small elements that grip the needle tips. The "Needle Rotor" facilitates intracorporeal swivelling and positioning of the needle because one jaw can be moved longitudinally over the other. A new "cutting knot pusher" permits immediate cutting of a slip knot subsequent to tightening.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Eberhard-Karls-University, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Melzer
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Schurr
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lirici
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Klemm
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stöckel
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Buess
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000295:instrumentation; D019723:Endoscopes; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D009339:Needles; D013536:Suture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*