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Richardson retractor for newborn surgery
Richardson Retractor for Newborn Surgery By Gayle Gatch and B r a d l e y M. R o d g e r s
Gainesville, Florida 9 A m o d i f i c a t i o n of t h e standard Richardson retractor is described which maintains t h e advantages o f t h e Richardson blade, but modifies t h e h a n d l e t o m a k e it more applicable t o i n f a n t abdominal s u r g e r y .
S an offspring of the discipline of general surgery, pediatric surgery has acquired many of its instruments as modifications of those used on adult patients. The Richardson retractor has long been a mainstay for surgical exposure in many general surgical specialties. The advantages of the Richardson retractor include a broad, flat blade and a lip which facilitates containment of surrounding tissue and viscera. The standard Richardson retractor has seen little use in newborn surgery because of the marked disadvantage of the length of the handle, often inappropriately long for use in small infants. We have made a modification of the standard Richardson retractor that has worked extremely
A
Fig. 1.
well in abdominal procedures on small infants. The handle of the standard Richardson retractor measures 9.5 inches in length. This may be modified by removing the hand piece and reshaping the shaft of the instrument (Fig. 1). Theoverall length of the resulting instrument is 4 inches. The curve on the end of the shaft facilitates retraction of the instrument by a single finger placed over the shaft. Standard Richardson retractors with blade widths measuring 3/4, 1 and 1.5 inches have been modified in this fashion and have proven ideal for abdominal exposure in the newborn infant. From the Department of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Fla. Address reprint requests to Bradley M. Rodgers, M.D., Box 181, University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, Va. 22908. 9 1981 by Grune & Stratton, Inc. 0022 3468/81/1605-0007501,00/0
Modifications of four sizes of Richardson retractors used for newborn surgery.
Journal of Pediatric Surgery, Vol. 16, No. 5 (October), 1981
685
Gainesville, Florida 9 A m o d i f i c a t i o n of t h e standard Richardson retractor is described which maintains t h e advantages o f t h e Richardson blade, but modifies t h e h a n d l e t o m a k e it more applicable t o i n f a n t abdominal s u r g e r y .
S an offspring of the discipline of general surgery, pediatric surgery has acquired many of its instruments as modifications of those used on adult patients. The Richardson retractor has long been a mainstay for surgical exposure in many general surgical specialties. The advantages of the Richardson retractor include a broad, flat blade and a lip which facilitates containment of surrounding tissue and viscera. The standard Richardson retractor has seen little use in newborn surgery because of the marked disadvantage of the length of the handle, often inappropriately long for use in small infants. We have made a modification of the standard Richardson retractor that has worked extremely
A
Fig. 1.
well in abdominal procedures on small infants. The handle of the standard Richardson retractor measures 9.5 inches in length. This may be modified by removing the hand piece and reshaping the shaft of the instrument (Fig. 1). Theoverall length of the resulting instrument is 4 inches. The curve on the end of the shaft facilitates retraction of the instrument by a single finger placed over the shaft. Standard Richardson retractors with blade widths measuring 3/4, 1 and 1.5 inches have been modified in this fashion and have proven ideal for abdominal exposure in the newborn infant. From the Department of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Fla. Address reprint requests to Bradley M. Rodgers, M.D., Box 181, University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, Va. 22908. 9 1981 by Grune & Stratton, Inc. 0022 3468/81/1605-0007501,00/0
Modifications of four sizes of Richardson retractors used for newborn surgery.
Journal of Pediatric Surgery, Vol. 16, No. 5 (October), 1981
685