suture thread is attached to the suture needle using methods such as crimping swaging and adhesives attachment of sutures and surgical needles is described in u s pat nos 3 981 307 5 084 063 5 102 418 5 123 911 5 500 991 5 722 991 6 012 216 and 6 163 948 and u s patent application publication no us 2004 0088003 all of which are incorporated herein by reference the point of attachment of the suture to the needle is known as the swage u201c armed suture u201d refers to a suture having a suture needle on at least one suture deployment end u201c suture needle u201d refers to needles used to deploy sutures into tissue which come in many different shapes forms and compositions there are two main types of needles traumatic needles and atraumatic needles traumatic needles have channels or drilled ends that is holes or eyes and are supplied separate from the suture thread and are threaded on site atraumatic needles are eyeless and are attached to the suture at the factory by swaging or other methods whereby the suture material is inserted into a channel at the blunt end of the needle which is then deformed to a final shape to hold the suture and needle together as such atraumatic.