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There are many different surgical specialties, some of which require very specific kinds of surgical instruments to perform.

General surgery is a specialty focused on the abdominal contents, as well as the thyroid gland, and diseases involving skin, breasts, various soft tissues, trauma, peripheral vascular disease, hernias, and endoscopic procedures.

This page is dedicated specifically to listing surgical instruments used in general surgery.

Instruments can be classified in many ways - but broadly speaking, there are five kinds of instruments.

1. Cutting and dissecting instruments:
   • Scalpels, scissors, and saws are the most traditional.
   • Elevators can be both cutting and lifting/retracting.
   • Although the term dissection is broad, energy devices such as diathermy/cautery are often used as more modern alternatives.
2. Grasping or holding instruments:
   • Classically this included forceps and clamps predominantly.
   • Roughly, forceps can be divided into traumatic (tissue crushing) and atraumatic (tissue preserving, such as Debakey's)
   • Numerous examples are available for different purposes by field.
3. Hemostatic instruments:
   • This includes instruments utilized for the cessation of bleeding.
   • Artery forceps are a classic example in which bleeding is halted by direct clamping of a vessel.
   • Sutures are often used, aided by a needle holder.
   • Cautery and related instruments are used with increasing frequency in high resource countries.
4. Retractors:
   • Surgery is often considered to be largely about exposure.
   • A multitude of retractors exist to aid in exposing the body's cavities accessed during surgery.
   • These can broadly be handheld (often by a junior assistant) or self-retaining.
   • Elevators can be both cutting and lifting/retracting.
5. Tissue unifying instruments and materials:
   • This would include instruments that aid in tissue unification (such as needle holders or staple applicators)
   • And the materials themselves

Instruments used in surgery are:

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

Instrument Name	Image	Brief description	Specific instruments
Electrical cautery		Electrical surgical cauterization utilizes electricity in either a mono-polar or bi-polar format to burn soft tissue and control bleeding.	Bovie Pencil Monopolar Hook Monopolar Spatula Bipolar Forceps
Curette		for scraping or debriding biological tissue or debris in a biopsy, excision, or cleaning procedure	Come in various sizes and shapes
Dermatome		To take off a top layer of skin to implant over another area;
Forceps, Dissecting		Grasping/holding. Usually used in skin closure or small wounds	Adson
Forceps, Tissue		Grasping/holding tissue	Allis
Penetrating towel clamp		Used to secure towels or reduce bone fragments	Backhaus penetating towel clamp
Carmalt forceps		haemostatic forceps	kalabasa
Cushing forceps		grasping/holding	Non-toothed dissecting forceps
Dandy forceps		haemostatic forceps
DeBakey forceps		grasping/holding	Non-toothed dissecting forceps designed for use on blood vessels, organs, or delicate tissue
Doyen intestinal clamp		clamps and distractors	Non-crushing clamp designed for use on the intestines
Kelly forceps		hemostatic forceps
Kocher forceps		hemostatic forceps
Mosquito forceps		hemostatic forceps
Hook		retractor
Nerve hook		retractor
Skin hook		retractor
Lancet (scalpel)		cutting
Mammotome
Needle holder		grasping/holding	Castroviejo Crilewood Mayo-Hegar Olsen-Hegar
Retractor		retractor	Handheld: Deaver Weitlander Army-Navy Richardson Richardson-Eastmann Ribbon Self-retaining: O'Connor-O'Sullivan Thompson Omni-Tract
Ultrasonic scalpel		cutting
Laser scalpel		cutting
Scissors		Cutting, spreading	May be curved or straight Iris Metzenbaum's Mayo Tenotomy
Speculum		Used to retract orifices.	Graves' Sim's
Suction tube and Yankeur suction tip		accessories and implants
Surgical elevator
Surgical hook		retractor
Surgical blade #15		Used to cut vessels or make small incisions
Surgical mesh		accessories and implants
Surgical needle		accessories and implants
Surgical sponge
GIA stapler		Used to make a gastrointestinal anastamosis	Linear stapler
Surgical tray
Suture
Tongue depressor
Tonsillotome
Towel clamp		clamp
Towel forceps		clamp
Backhaus towel forceps
Lorna towel clamp		Non-penatrating towel clamp
Tracheotome
Tissue expander		accessories and implant
Subcutaneous inflatable balloon expander		accessories and implants
Trephine		cutting instrument
Trocar		Access instrument. Used to create an opening into a space without opening the abdominal cavity. A camera then inserted through one to view the inside of the space while instruments are inserted through the others to manipulate the organs.
Ultrasonic energy device		Surgical device using electrical energy that's converted to mechanical ultrasound energy typically used to dissect tissue but also seals small vessels and tissue bundles.

References

1. "ilizarov.com (English)". Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
2. Children with Tracheostomies Resource Guide, by Marilyn K. Kertoy, p. 15 (Google book search)
3. Rob Toreki (1 December 2004). "Cannulas". The Glassware Gallery. Interactive Learning ←Paradigms Incorporated.
4. "Practical approach to nephrostomy". Archived from the original on 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
5. See Mr R McElroy for details of various operations and the unintended effects of chemical cauterization
6. Ring, Malvin (July 2001). "How a Dentist's Name Became a Synonym for a Life-saving Device: The Story of Dr. Charles Stent". Journal of the History of Dentistry. 49 (2): 77–80. PMID 11484317. Archived from the original on 2005-04-28. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
7. How do they get the hole through a hypodermic needle?
8. Bonfils-Roberts, E (May 1972). "The Rib Spreader: A Chapter in the History of Thoracic Surgery" (PDF). Chest. 61 (5): 469–474. doi:10.1378/chest.61.5.469. ISSN 0012-3692. PMID 4558402. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
9. "General Instrument Sourcebook - KMedic" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
10. Russell, R. C. G.; Bulstrode, C. J. K.; Williams, N. S. (25 April 2000). Bailey & Love's SHORT PRACTICE OF SURGERY (23rd ed.). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-340-75949-6.
11. Gould, George M. (1934). Gould's Pocket Pronouncing Medical Dictionary (10th (rev) ed.). P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Inc.
12. Cordero, Ismael (2015). "Electrosurgical units – how they work and how to use them safely". Community Eye Health. 28 (89): 15–16. ISSN 0953-6833. PMC 4579996. PMID 26435589.

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