Instrument Comparisons

The cervix moves. That single fact explains why a tenaculum exists at all. Anyone who has attempted a hysteroscopy on an anteverted uterus without stabilising the anterior lip knows the problem — the sound wanders, the cervical canal angles away from the instrument, and the false passage risk climbs. A vulsellum or tenaculum applied at […]

Three patterns turn up on almost every colposcopy tray, and most clinicians inherit their preference from whoever trained them rather than from any comparison of the jaws. That is fine until the pathology report comes back saying the specimen is too superficial or too crushed to grade, at which point the instrument stops being a

The Chamberlen family kept their forceps design secret for roughly 150 years, arriving at deliveries with the instrument in a locked box and clearing the room before using it. When the design finally became public in the eighteenth century, the basic architecture it established — two separated blades that articulate around the fetal head —

Why does a craniotomy tray carry two pairs of fine forceps that look almost identical from a metre away? Both are slender. Both are around 18 cm. Both have serrated tips a scrub nurse could confuse at speed. And yet handing over the wrong one during a dural closure is the kind of small error

There is one rule in this subject that has no exceptions: never put toothed forceps on bowel, on a blood vessel, or on a nerve. Everything after that is judgement. And the judgement is more counterintuitive than most training makes it sound, because the instrument with teeth is frequently the gentler of the two. What

Thudichum Killian Vienna Stays open by Bow spring, no handle Set screw lock on handle Leaf spring between handles Blade length ~20–35 mm ~50–90 mm ~27–33 mm Hands needed One finger grip, hand committed Locks, hand free One hand, constant grip Primary use Outpatient rhinoscopy Septal surgery, deep work Clinic exam, packing, ED Depth reached