Surgical Instruments for Veterinary Medicine
Purposes
· Protect from hemorrhage
· Fluid accumulation
· Incise tissue
· Clamp/secure tissue and vessels
· Manipulation of surgical needles
· Prevents excess trauma
· Designed for manipulation of specific tissue
· Decreases wound healing time
· Decreases risk of infection
Types of instruments
· Can be curved or straight at the tip
· Often named after the surgeon who developed them
· Scalpels and blades
· Scissors
· Forceps
· Needle holders
· Retractors
· Miscellaneous
Scalpels & Blades
Bard-Parker Scalpel Handle
Purpose: Hold scalpel blade
#3 for small animal, #4 for large animal
Scalpel Blades
Purpose: Placed on scalpel handle to make surgical incision; incise tissue with minimal trauma
Used once per patient, longer surgeries may require multiple new blades
§ #10 – General Purpose
§ #15 – Fine (declaw)
§ #11 – Lancing
§ #12 – Abscess
10-19 blades will fit on a #3 Bard-Parker Scalpel Handle
20-29 will fit on #4 Bard-Parker Scalpel Handle
Scissors
All Purpose (Operating)
Purpose: To cut and dissect, NOT used on the patient for incision
§ Sharp-blunt
§ Sharp-sharp
§ Blunt-blunt
Blunt-blunt scissors have the angle up the jaws vs. the Mayo
Dissecting Scissors
Purpose: To cut and dissect
§ Mayo Dissecting
o Dense tissue or surgical drapes/sterile material during surgery
o Angle starts halfway through the jaws when viewed from the side
§ Metzenbaum Dissecting
o Delicate tissue
o Jaws are roughly 1/3 of the instrument
Bandage/Suture Scissors
§ Lister Bandage Scissor
o Lifts bandage off patient to allow safe cutting of bandage
§ Littauer (Suture)
o Safely remove sutures without cutting the patient
Forceps
Thumb Forceps
Purpose: Grasp skin, tissue, sterile material
§ Adson
o Delicate tissue
o Intermeshed teeth at the very tip
§ Adson-Brown
o Delicate tissue
o Has more teeth
§ Rat Tooth
o Skin
o Larger, denser, has teeth on the tip
§ Dressing
o Gauze and other sterile dressing
o Only transverse serrations
Forceps
Purpose: Provides secure grip on tissue, hold surgical drapes in place on the patient during surgery
§ Allis – Tissue
o Only closes on tip with teeth
§ Kocher – Tissue
o Closes whole jaw and the tip, strong grip
Towel Clamps
Purpose: Hold surgery drapes in place
§ Backhaus
o Ratchet, box lock
§ Jones
o Squeeze to open, they remain closed during sterilization
Hemostatic Forceps (hemostats)
Purpose: Ligating (occluding or crushing) tissues and vessels
§ Halsted Mosquito (10 cm)
o Small blood vessels (capillaries)
o Little, transverse serrations down the jaws
§ Kelly, Crile (12.5 cm)
o Intermediate blood vessels
o Transverse serrations begin halfway down the jaw for Kelly
o Crile has them all through the jaw
§ Rochester Carmalt (20 cm or 8”)
o Large blood vessels or tissue bundles containing vessels
o Longitudinal serrations
o Can come in pediatric form which is 15 cm or 6 ¼”
Needle Holder/Drivers
§ Needle drivers have criss-cross serrations
§ Mayo-Hegar
§ Olsen-Hegar
o Has a cutting piece along the jaws
o Olson twins = two functions!
Retractors
§ Hand-held retractors
§ Self-locking retractors
Miscellaneous
§ Snook Spay Hook – locate and lift the uterine horn
§ White’s Scissors – cut/trim, used in declaw surgeries, beak trims
§ Bunt Instrument Clip – hold things in place during autoclave sterilization
Care of Instruments Post-OP
1. Clean within 10 minutes of the end of surgery
2. Rinse with cold water
3. Immerse instruments in an enzymatic cleaner with neutral pH
4. Scrub with a soft nylon brush (toothbrush) paying particular attention to box locks, hinge, serrations, and ratchets where blood and tissue debris can collect
5. Helps prevent spotting/corrosion
6. Rinse thoroughly with cold running or distilled water, +/- ultrasonic cleaner
7. Air dry
8. Place in instrument milk to lubricate (prevents rusting and keeps instruments lubricated)
9. Air dry on de-linted towels
10. Wrap and place in the autoclave for sterilization
11. Ultrasonic instrument cleaner
a. Gets instruments 16x cleaner than just handwashing
b. Bubbles form which get into the cavities and erode debris