Working Groups
Technical CommitteeThe Technical Committee (TC) is EASSI’s forum for discussion of technical questions regarding sutures, meshes and needles. The TC’s main purpose is to guarantee a high quality level of the medical devices in question by actively monitoring, developing and promoting standards. The Technical Committee is also in charge of observing relevant regulatory developments and formulating EASSI’s position on legislative initiatives.
The Technical Committee currently has the following Working Groups (WG):
WG "Medical Device Regulation" (MDR)
The MDR WG works on all topics related to the new European MDR and other regulatory issues.
In March 2021 the group published a Surgical Suture position paper to draw attention to the MDR's obstacles for suture manufacturers.
WG "Environment & Sustainability" (ES)
The WG ES was founded in autumn 2021 initially with the aim of providing information; the constitutional took place in summer 2022. The background of the group are in particular the new challenges for the industry due to the Green Deal of the EU (environmental protection, sustainability, sterilization, supply chains ...).
WG “Standardization of Surgical Meshes” (SSM)
The SSM aims at developing standardized test methods for surgical meshes. The tests refer to:
- linear tensile strength
- suture pull-out force
- burst strength
- pore size.
WG “Needles”
The aim of the working group is to identify and define surgical needle specifications and their corresponding testing methods.
