Forming an intracorporeal slip-knot in laparoscopic suturing.

L aparoscopic suturing presents an important skills barrier to developing a laparoscopic surgical practice. The formation of a slip-knot greatly assists in approximating tissue that may initially be under tension or when the suture material is difficult to tie owing to memory (the property of resisting deformation). I describe here a technique that allows the surgeon to fashion an intracorporeal laparoscopic slip-knot in a controlled and consistent manner using either monofilament or braided suture material.