Mechanical performance of disposable surgical needle holders.

The mechanical performance of disposable Webster surgical needle holders supplied by three different surgical instrument companies was determined by recording the forces (clamping moment) applied by the different needle holder jaws to curved surgical needles. This investigation demonstrated that there was a large variability in the mechanical performance of the disposable needle holders supplied by each surgical instrument company. In addition, the mechanical performance of the disposable needle holder of each surgical instrument company was distinctly different.