Gerald Bayonet 180mm Dressing Forceps — Skull Base

Gerald Bayonet 180mm — Skull-Base Microsurgery

The 180mm bayonet Gerald is the standard skull-base microsurgery dressing forceps — used in petrous-apex tumour resection, cavernous-sinus tumour dissection, and the extended endonasal skull-base approaches that combine bayonet geometry with operating-microscope visualisation. The 18cm length reaches the deepest skull-base structures from the transcranial or transnasal approach while the bayonet keeps the handle clear of the microscope field.

The cavernous-sinus surgery context

Surgery on tumours involving the cavernous sinus is the most technically demanding skull-base operation — the cavernous sinus contains the internal carotid artery, the third, fourth, sixth and first-division-fifth cranial nerves, all packed into a 1×2cm space lateral to the sella. Tumour resection in this region requires the precision of microscope-magnified dissection with the bayonet Gerald’s hand-clear geometry. House-grade-I or II preservation of all cavernous-sinus contents is the operative goal; the bayonet Gerald is the dissection forceps that enables it.

The combined-approach context

Some cavernous-sinus tumours are approached via combined transcranial-and-transnasal-endoscopic technique; the bayonet Gerald serves both arms of the combined approach.