Surgical suture (needle, thread and catgut)
Sutura quirúrgica con aguja e hilo (y catgut)
- Date
- c. 500 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Varanasi, India; Rome (Galen, catgut)
- Credited to
- Sushruta (linen, hemp, ant mandibles); Galen (catgut)
- People
- 👤 Súsruta600 BCE–500 BCE
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Closing wounds by stitching the edges with curved needles and threads of linen, silk, sinew or animal gut (catgut, absorbable). A technique that enables internal surgery and reduces infection and bleeding.
Egypt (Edwin Smith Papyrus, c. 1600 BCE) already describes sutures; catgut is documented in Galen (2nd century CE).
What it led to
- Surgery for war wounds in the Roman army (valetudinaria)
- Absorbable sutures that avoid the need for reoperation
- Modern gastrointestinal and vascular surgery
- Specialised surgical instruments
Built on
- Eyed bone needlec. 50 ka
- Indian surgery (Sushruta Samhita)c. 200 BCE
- Linen thread
- Sushruta's Indian surgery
- Egyptian bandage
Made possible
- Lister's sterilised catgut
- Vascular surgery
- Curved surgical needle