What Is an Electric Bone Saw?

A bone saw is used to cut bone -- either for medical and veterinary procedures, or in butchery. Electric saws speed up the process and make saw cuts more precise. Most electric bone saws comprise a hand-held power tool with assorted blades -- usually including drill and reamer attachments. In addition to these hand-held saws, there are applications within both forensics and butchery where free-standing electric band saws are used.

Applications

• Electric bone saws are essential in orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery. Examples of surgeries requiring a bone saw include hip and knee replacements and operations on the shoulders, arms and hands, including ligament repair. Electric saws are also widely used in autopsies and forensic science. In an autopsy, a bone saw is used to open up the chest cavity and cranium. It might be used to remove fine slices of bone for laboratory testing. In addition to these human applications, cruder versions of electric bone saws assist butchers to joint animal carcasses.

Features

• Electric bone saws are corrosion resistant -- usually in a combination of stainless steel and chrome plating -- and they can be sterilized. In medical, forensic and food applications, cleanliness is essential. Blades are high performance -- essential in surgery and in butchery where blades must cut cleanly without embedding splinters of bone in the meat. Surgical saws should have a bone dust collector attachment -- this prevents bone dust being thrown up into the air or into the surgery site. The high-speed blades are designed to cut only bone, not peripheral soft tissue. This is an important safety feature, but several layers of gloves, including cut-resistant gloves are essential.

Types

• Some electric bone saws cut with an oscillating action. Others are rotary saws. Yet others are reciprocating -- cutting with a push-pull, back and forth action. Saws come in varying sizes and with different blade types to suit specific applications. Micro-saws are available for delicate surgery. Some blades are toothed; some bevel-edged; some have diamond tipped blades. They are available with straight, angled, or adjustable heads for greater flexibility. Recent developments include blades where only the cutting-tip oscillates. No longer having the whole blade oscillating improves visibility for the surgeon.

Significance

• Prior to the invention of the electric bone saw, sawing though bone could be slow and difficult. The process could be quite brutal, involving levering, gouging, chiseling and hammering as well as sawing. For patients this made surgery traumatic and the results crude. Developed in the 1880s, electric bone saws were immediately heralded as a significant breakthrough. Surgical, autopsy and biopsy work could now be quicker, cleaner and more precise. However, surgical electrical saws were not widely used until the 1920s.

History

• Today's electric bone saw is sometimes synonymous with the Stryker saw. This is in honor of Dr. Homer Stryker of Kalamazoo, Michigan. One of Dr. Stryker's many contributions to orthopedic medicine was his invention of the oscillating electric bone saw. This arose out of his earlier invention: a saw that would cut through plaster casts without cutting the skin beneath. In the 21st century, Stryker Corporation remains a leading manufacturer of surgical equipment, including surgical power tools.