Needle in a haystack: Intraoperative breakage of pediatric minimal access surgery instruments

The search for tiny bits of broken pediatric minimal access surgery (MAS) instruments in an operative field is akin to the search for a needle in a haystack. With the extension of MAS to the pediatric age group, instruments are becoming smaller and equitably more prone to breakage. When breakages oc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of postgraduate medicine (Bombay) 2014-07, Vol.60 (3), p.324-326
Main Authors: Parelkar, S, Sanghvi, B, Shetty, S, Athawale, H, Oak, S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdomen
Care and treatment
Case studies
Children
Foreign bodies (Medical care)
Hernias
Hospitals
Laparoscopy
Manufacturing
Pediatrics
Surgery
Surgical errors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The search for tiny bits of broken pediatric minimal access surgery (MAS) instruments in an operative field is akin to the search for a needle in a haystack. With the extension of MAS to the pediatric age group, instruments are becoming smaller and equitably more prone to breakage. When breakages occur, retrieval, especially in the pediatric abdominal cavity, can be challenging. Inability to do so would affect patient safety and also lead to a web of medico legal and ethical issues. We present two cases of intraoperative breakage: An eyeless 3-0 polyamide suture needle and a 2-mm grasper blade both of which were successfully retrieved and fortuitously escaped becoming retained surgical items.
ISSN:0022-3859
0972-2823
DOI:10.4103/0022-3859.138823