Suture package

Claim 1

A multi-strand suture package comprising a foldable card of relatively stiff material rectangular in shape having a bottom edge, a top edge, and two side edges; and overlying sheet sealed to the bottom edge of said card and along fold lines parallel to said side edges to form a plurality of adjacent compartments that are open at the top edge of said card; each compartment containing a double-armed suture wound in the form of a coil comprising a multiplicity of figure-eight convolutions each of which comprise a centrally located suture crossing and opposed loops on each side of said crossing and integral with the suture portions forming the crossing, the suture crossings of successive figure-eight convolutions being superimposed one upon the other to dispose the convolutions in successive layers; a needle affixed to each end of each suture and extending from the open end of each compartment toward the bottom edge Of said card, said card being folded inwardly toward the overlying sheet along the fold lines to bring adjacent compartments together with the coiled sutures in registry and the needles in position between adjacent compartments; and means for retaining the folded card in its folded position to form a suture package whereby as the package is unfolded, said armed ends are exposed sequentially facilitating removal by the surgeon of each suture from its compartment one at a time without tangling or kinking.