Common Surgical

Instruments
Prepared by: Regine B. Villanueva, RN
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Anatomy of a surgical instrument

- Basic design specifications are

generally standardized according
to the required function of the
instrument.

- Modifications in size, shape and

design are made to accommodate
the variety of human anatomic
structures.
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Three broad categories of instruments

▪ Handheld, nonpowered
surgical instruments
▪ Powered tools or devices
▪ Endoscopic equipment
and instrumentation

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Surgical Blades
Used for initial incision and cutting tissue.
Consists of a blade and a handle. Surgeons
often refer to the instrument by its blade
number.

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Blade Holders / Scalpel Handles
They are intended to be use with
surgical blades for tissue separation and
other procedure that require a sharp
surgical blade to puncture or cut.
Scalpel Handle hold the scalpel blade, it
is a small and extremely sharp
instrument used for surgery and
anatomical dissection. A Scalpel may be
single-use (disposable) or re-usable
device. 10
Scissors

Used for cutting tissue, suture, or for

dissection. Scissors can be straight or
curved, and may be used for cutting
heavy or finer structures.
Mayo Scissors
Straight scissors are used
for cutting suture (“suture
scissors”), while curved
scissors are used for
cutting heavy tissue (e.g.,
fascia).

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Metzenbaum Scissors

Lighter scissors used

for cutting delicate
tissue (e.g., heart) and
for blunt dissection.
Also called “Metz” in
practice.

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Iris Scissor

Used for fine dissection

and cutting fine suture.
Originally for ophthalmic
procedures, but now
serves multipurpose role.

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Pott’s Scissor

Fine scissors used

for creating
incisions in blood
vessels

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Bandage Scissor

Are scissors that often have

an angled tip with a blunt tip
on the bottom blade.
This helps in cutting bandages
without gouging the skin.

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Shear trauma scissor

A type of scissors used by

paramedics and other
emergency medical personnel
to quickly and safely cut
clothin.g from injured people

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 Forceps
Sometimes called PICK-UPS, are two-
bladed, tweezer-like instruments that are
designed to pick up, grasp, and hold
tissue to facilitate dissection or suturing.
Tissue Forceps

Tissue forceps are used in

surgical procedures for grasping
tissue. Often, the tips have
"teeth" to securely hold a tissue.
Typically tissue forceps are
designed to minimize damage to
biological tissue. These forceps
are used for delicate tissue
handling and traction during a 19
Thumb Forceps

▪ Thumb forceps are spring

forceps used by compression
between your thumb and
forefinger and are used for
grasping, holding or
manipulating body tissue. you
could use thumb forceps to
hold or move tissue during
surgery or to move dressings.
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Adson Forceps

Adson Forceps are used to

handle tissues and dressings
during surgical procedures.
This instrument comes with
a toothed tip and serrated
surface.

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DeBakey Forceps

Used for
atraumatic
tissue grasping
during
dissection.
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Russian Forceps

Used for
atraumatic tissue
grasping during
dissection.

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Hemostats/Clamps
It is the most common of all clamping
instruments. They are used to grasp
bleeding vessels and prevent blood loss
with minimal tissue damage. Hemostats
range in size from short to long and from
delicate to heavier in design.
Mosquito Clamp

Used to control
surface bleeders
and handle delicate
tissue.

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Kelly Clamp

used to control bleeders in

muscle tissue, to pass drains,
and to hold Kitner or peanut
sponges.

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Crile Clamps

They are larger and less delicate

than mosquito forceps. They are
often used for the occlusion of
small to medium sized vessels.
Also known as “snap,” atraumatic
and non-toothed clamp used to
grasp tissue or vessels that will
be tied off. Also used in blunt
dissection.
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Babcock Forceps

▪ have curved fenestrated

tips without teeth. They
are used to grip or enclose
delicate structure such as
bowel, appendix, ureters,
or fallopian tubes. The
smooth edges and bowed
shape allow grasping
without p
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Allis Forceps

also allow grasping and

holding without crushing. They
have multiple, tiny, fine teeth
that curve slightly inward. Allis
clamps will hold slightly
heavier tissue than Babcock
clamps because they have
serrations along their edges.
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Kocher or Ochsner Clamp

are easily identified by the

transverse serrations and the
large teeth at the tips. This
enables the surgeon to grasp
and tightly hold heavy, tough, or
slippery tissue such as fascia,
bone, and cartilage. The Kocher
is also known as an Ochsner
clamp
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Bulldog Clamp

Bulldog clamp is a useful

instrument for stopping blood
flow to a particular organ of
interest. One of the most
common applications where a
bulldog clamp can be used is
during coronary surgery where
blood flow must be stopped
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Retractors
In varying forms, retractors are used to
hold an incision open, hold back tissues or
other objects to maintain a clear surgical
field, or reach other structures. They can
either be hand-held or self-retaining via a
ratcheting mechanism.
Deaver Retractor

▪ Used to hold back the

abdominal wall.

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Army-Navy Retractor

Also called USA retractors .

Used to gain exposure of skin
layers.

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Richardson Retractor

Frequently used in abdominal

surgery to retract
subcutaneous tissue. They
come in many sizes and can be
used singly or in pairs

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Richardson-Eastman Retractor

To either actively
separate the edges of a
surgical incision or
wound, or can hold
back underlying organs
and tissues, so that
body parts under the
incision may be
accessed
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Malleable Retractor

flat metal ribbons that can be

shaped or bent by the surgeon
into the needed shape to
adequately retract tissue. They
can be used to protect soft
tissue during dissection or to
provide retraction of bowel and
soft tissue. Many sizes and
lengths are available
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Weitlaner Retractor

used to maintain wound

exposure during procedures
such as inguinal hernia
repairs and are similar to a
Jansen. Weitlaners may
have sharp or blunt jaws and
either an arrangement of
teeth that is 2 x 3 or 3 x 4.
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Balfour Retractor

Used to retract the abdominal

wall during abdominal surgery.
The blade on a Balfour is a
separate piece of this
retractor and is attached and
adjusted on the spreader with
a wing nut. The spreader can
have shallow or deep blades
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Other retractors
Senn retractor

Rake retractor

Skin hook retractor

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Needle Holders
Crilewood Needle Holder
Crile-Wood Needle Holders
are used to grasp and guide the
needle when suturing. Crile-
Wood needle holders are similar
to Mayo-Hegar needle holder but
the end tip is finer and gently
tapered.

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Mayo-Hegar Needle Holder

Mayo-Hegar needle holder are

used in a multiple types of surgical
procedures. Due to its versatility,
it is one of the most commonly
used surgical tools for both
human and animal procedures
and is normally used with larger,
heavier suture needles because of
its wide jaws.
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Derf Needle Holder

Derf Needle Holders feature

short serrated jaws that hold
small needles and commonly 5-0
and 6-0 sutures. Frequently
utilized in ophthalmic, dental, or
plastic procedures, the 5" length
allows the Derf Needle Holder to
be easily controlled in smaller
surgical areas.
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Ryder Needle Holder

Is a ratcheted, finger ring

instrument that features
narrow jaws and is commonly
used with very small suture
needles in cardiovascular,
plastic, and neurosurgical
procedures.

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Backhaus Towel Clip
The Backhaus towel clamp is a
perforating clamp. It is used for
grasping the tissue, securing towels
or drapes, and holding or reducing
small bone fractures. Backhaus
Towel Clamp is mainly used to
fasten drapes or towels to patients
during medical procedures in order
for them to stay on
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Rongeur
Rongeurs are like pliers with a
heavy, pointed jaw. With their
heavy contrsuction, rongeurs
are used for gnawing holes in
bones during surgery. The scoop
shaped tip of the rongeur is used
for gouging the bone. This could
be neurosurgery where the
surgeon must remove part of the
skull to expose the brain. 48
Bone curette

This instrument is used to carefully

smooth bone. With a small spoon on
the end of the tool similar to that of
an ice-cream scoop, a
curette allows the surgeon to scrape
away bone. The spoon of the bone
curette has durable, sharp edges.
Its handle may be large and thick,
taking up the entire hand, or small
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and thin.
Needles and Sutures
Needles come in many shapes
and cutting edges for various
applications. Suture can be
absorbable, non absorbable, and
is available in different sizes.
 Sutures
▪ Sutures, commonly called stitches, ▪ The time takes for a tissue to no
are sterile, surgical threads that are longer require support from
used to repair cuts (lacerations). It is sutures will vary depending on
a medical device that is use to hold tissue type:
skin, internal organs, blood vessels ▫ Days: Muscle, subcutaneous
and all other tissues of the human tissue or skin
body together, after they have been ▫ Weeks to Months: Fascia or
severed by injury, incision or surgery. tendon
Tissues are held together until ▫ Months to Never: Vascular
enough healing occurs to withstand prosthesis 51
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Other instruments and
materials
Skin Stapler

Skin staplers are used

externally to close skin under
high tension, such as on the
skull or the trunk of the body.
Surgical staples offer several
advantages over sutures. They
can be inserted quickly.
They're strong.
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Suction
Poole Suction Tube is an
instrument used to remove large
quantities of fluid from surgical
sites during procedures. It is
often used during abdominal
procedures. The Poole suction
tube has multiple holes so as to
best prevent blockages caused
by fat or tissue suctioned during
a procedure. 55
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Electrocautery Pen

Instrument that cuts or

cauterizes tissue via an
alternating electrical current.

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Laparoscopic Instruments
Many instruments are similar to
those used in open surgery, adapted
to fit through narrow ports placed
through the skin. Laparoscopic work
is then conducted via the ports.
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