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Surgical Operative Instruments

Every occupation is associated with specific tools of the trade required to perform tasks neatly, quickly and efficiently. Surgical instruments are tools with which a surgeon cuts, retracts, clamps, grasps and mends body tissues in an effort to enhance a patient's quality of life. General surgical instruments are those used in all types of surgery.

  1. Cutting Instruments

    • Surgeons use two types of instruments for cutting. Scalpels consist of handles with removable blades. Handles and blades come in a variety of sizes. Long scalpels cut deep, delicate tissue and shorter scalpels slice skin and superficial tissue. Surgeons also use specialized scissors for cutting. Straight Mayo scissors, or suture scissors, cut stitches and surgical supplies. Curved Mayo scissors, shaped like cuticle scissors, cut muscle, breast, uterine and other heavy tissue. Metzenbaum scissors are less bulky than Mayo scissors and are used for cutting delicate structures.

    Retracting Instruments

    • Retractors are used to separate incision edges and restrain internal body structures. They provide surgeons the view and access required to perform surgery. They can be hand held, a task performed by surgical nurses and technologists, or self-retaining, in which a ratchet serves to hold the tissues apart. Retractors have blunt or sharp ends and are identified by their blades rather than their handles.

    Clamping Instruments

    • Hemostatic forceps clamp blood vessels and other hollow structures to occlude blood flow or the spillage of other body contents. Although they look like scissors, hemostatic forceps have jaws with flat faces and interlocking teeth on the handles, which allow the surgeon to adjust and maintain the appropriate amount of tension on compressed structures. The forceps are either straight or curved and vary in design to accommodate the diameters and depths of the blood vessels and other structures they close off.

    Grasping Instruments

    • Forceps function as grasping tools. Some forceps look like tweezers, while others look like scissors with locking mechanisms, similar to hemostatic forceps. Instruments with smooth ends are used to grasp and hold delicate tissues. Surgeons use forceps with teeth for grasping tough tissues. Toothed instruments can have single or multiple teeth. Forceps designed for holding sponges or fastening surgical drapes are also common.

    Suturing Instruments

    • Like forceps, needle holders are hinged and have locking mechanisms. Mayo-Hegar forceps have tapered jaws and no cutting edges. Olsen-Hegar forceps have cutting blades in addition to the jaws required to hold the needle. The latter poses the risk of stitches being accidentally cut during the suturing process.

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