Classification of Instruments

A surgical instrument is a specially designed tool or device for performing specific actions of carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue or to provide access or view it. Along time, many different kinds of surgical instruments and tools have been invented, some of them of a more general character, others designed for a specific type of surgery. Accordingly, the nomenclature of surgical instruments follows certain patterns, such as a description of the action it performs (for example, scalpel, hemostat), the name of its inventor(s) (for example, the Kocher forceps), or a compound scientific name related to the kind of surgery (for example, tracheotome).

The expression surgical instrumentation is somewhat interchangeably used with surgical instruments, but its meaning in medical jargon is really the activity of providing assistance to a surgeon with the proper handling of surgical instruments during an operation, by a specialized professional, usually a nurse.

Classification

There are several classes of surgical instruments, such as:

• Graspers, especially tweezers and forceps
• Clamps and occluders for blood vessels and other organs
• Retractors, used to spread open skin, ribs and other tissue
• Distractors, positioners and stereotactic devices
• Mechanical cutters (scalpels, lancets, drill bits, rasps, trocars, etc.)
• Dilators and speculae, for access to narrow passages or incisions
• Suction tips and tubes, for removal of bodily fluids
• Irrigation and injection needles, tips and tubes, for introducing fluid
• Powered devices, such as drills, dermatomes
• Scopes and probes, including fiber optic endoscopes and tactile probes
• Carriers and appliers for optical, electronic and mechanical devices
• Measurement devices, such as rulers and callipers

An important relative distinction, regarding surgical instruments, is the amount of bodily disruption or tissue trauma that their use might cause the patient. Terms relating to this issue are ‘atraumatic’ and minimally invasive. Minimally invasive systems are an important recent development in surgery. In the future, the devices will include many microscopic autonomous and directed devices.