Sutures may fall or “ping” out of needle holders when grasped incorrectly. Finding lost sutures +/- needles is often difficult in the ophthalmic operating environment due to their size and colour. Lost sutures waste time and constitute a health hazard. This study aims to give a guide as to the maximum distance that such sutures may travel.

Sutures of differing lengths were “pinged” from a Barraquer needle holder under constant conditions (height 95cm) in an ophthalmic operating theatre. Horizontal measurements were taken from directly below the point of “ping” to the swage of the suture needle. 6 different commonly used sutures (5.0 Prolene W8721, 5.0 Vicryl W9953, 6.0 Vicryl W9952, 6.0 Vicryl W9760, 6.0 Prolene W8807 and 5.0 Silk W468) at 3 different lengths (full length, 14cm, 6cm) were studied over 5 repetitions. Means, standard deviation and confidence intervals were calculated.

For 6cm sutures the mean distance travelled ranged from 43.4cm (SD:8.02, 95%CI:36.37-50.43) for 6.0 Prolene W8807 to 147.2cm (SD:24.84,95%CI:125.42-168.98) for 5.0 Silk W468. For full length sutures the mean distance travelled ranged from 26.3cm (SD:4.70,95%CI:22.18-30.42) for 6.0 Prolene W8807 to 60.1cm (SD:27.84,95%CI:35.70-84.50) for 6.0 Vicryl W9552. 5.0 Vicryl W9553 sutures travelled less than identically needled 6.0 Vicryl W9552. With only one exception did the suture with the shortest length not travel furthest.

Distances travelled by sutures appeared to relate to both length and gauge. Monofilament Prolene appeared to travel shorter distances than similar gauged filament sutures. When searching for monofilament Prolene sutures the radius of review should be about 75cm, but this may need to be doubled for short filament sutures.