Repair of soft tissue injuries often involves passage of sutures through osseous tunnels. Whilst straight needles are available, they are not offered for all types of suture materials. They also have a large diameter at the eye, necessitating a large diameter tunnel. We describe a simple and cheap way of making any suture available with a straight needle. Dunhill forceps are used to remove the hub from a hypodermic needle. Any suture material can then be passed through the lumen and secured by crimping the needle at its hilt (Fig. 1). To minimise the risk of injury, this is done without fully unsheathing the needle. We have used this technique many times with no failures.
Figure 1.
A 3'0 ethibond suture secured within a 19-G hypodermic needle.