What are surgical instruments…?

So what are these….? Simply “These are the tools used by a Surgeon during operation, examination etc.”

For every part of a human body there are specially designed instruments which are used such as ophthalmic instruments used in Eye surgery, cardiovascular instruments use in heart surgery, Skin instruments, Kidney instruments etc.

Surgical Instruments are also categorized as single use and reusable.

Those instruments which are marked as single use  (encircled 2 with a crossing line) are usually sterilized packed and can only be used once where as reusable instruments can be used again and again after sterilization, provided their maintenance is carried out as per standard procedure.

History

Archeologist found different objects such as bones , bamboo , stones in the crude instruments form from the period around 10,000 B.C  which were used for medical purposes at that time.

More sophisticated tools were found in the late Bronze and Iron ages and the early Egyptian civilization. These tools were far more superior function wise as compared to the stone ages tools and showed us a continued improvement in the designs fulfilling the human needs.

In the middle Ages and the Renaissance surgical instrument development continued in Europe and a whole range of instruments used exclusively for surgery emerged.

Surgical Instruments can be broadly categorized as follows:

•      Cutting Instruments: those with a cutting edge such as saws, knives,    some of these requiring Grips / handles.
•       Gripping instruments such as  , Thumb Dressings , Tweezers, Spatulas

·                Paired items like Forceps, Scissors , Rongeurs .

Production simply starts with Forging, then machining followed by some filing , Grinding  and Polishing .

From the 17th century to the 19th century, new studies and research in the surgery field led to the development of more sophisticated tools with specialized functions to be used on different parts of human bodies.

In the 20^th century people started using stainless steel for manufacturing surgical instruments because of its properties such as corrosion resistance, hardness, formability, long life and till present stainless steel is considered to be the most suitable material for majority of the instruments etc.

Recent development includes the use of other material like titanium ,Silver alloys, Laser guided instruments and micro surgery instruments.