Common Surgical Clamps and Their Uses

Surgical clamps are essential tools in various medical procedures, used to hold, secure, or compress tissues, blood vessels, or surgical materials. They come in a wide variety of designs to suit specific tasks. Below is a list of names of surgical clamps, categorized by their primary functions.

Hemostatic Clamps

These clamps are used to control bleeding by compressing blood vessels.

1. Kelly Clamp: General-purpose clamp for larger blood vessels or tissues.
2. Crile Clamp: Similar to Kelly but shorter and finer, used for smaller vessels.
3. Mosquito Clamp: Small and delicate, used for precise control of small vessels.
4. Pean Clamp: Larger and heavier, ideal for clamping larger vessels or tissues.
5. Rochester Clamp: Available in straight or curved designs, often used in abdominal surgeries.

Tissue Clamps

These clamps are designed to hold or manipulate tissues during surgery.

1. Allis Clamp: Has teeth for securely holding soft tissues.
2. Babcock Clamp: Smooth and rounded jaws to handle delicate tissues like intestines or fallopian tubes.
3. Kocher Clamp (Ochsner Clamp): Features teeth at the tip for gripping tough tissues securely.
4. Duval Clamp: Used in thoracic and abdominal procedures for holding tissues without causing damage.
5. Lahey Traction Clamp: Used for grasping thyroid or other dense tissues.

Vascular Clamps

These clamps are designed for use on blood vessels to minimize trauma while temporarily blocking blood flow.

1. Bulldog Clamp: Small, spring-loaded clamp for temporarily occluding blood vessels.
2. Satinsky Clamp: Used in cardiovascular and thoracic surgeries to partially occlude vessels.
3. Fogarty Clamp: Has soft jaws designed for atraumatic clamping of blood vessels.
4. Debakey Clamp: Ideal for vascular procedures due to its atraumatic grip.

Intestinal and Bowel Clamps

Specialized clamps for gastrointestinal surgeries.

1. Doyen Clamp: Long and flexible jaws for atraumatic clamping of intestines.
2. Payr Clamp: Used in gastrointestinal surgeries to temporarily occlude bowel sections.
3. Glassman Clamp: Atraumatic design for intestinal procedures.

Bone and Orthopedic Clamps

Clamps used in orthopedic surgeries to hold bones or implants.

1. Reduction Clamp: Used to align and stabilize fractured bone fragments.
2. Kern Bone Clamp: Grips bone securely during orthopedic procedures.
3. Lane Bone Clamp: Similar to Kern but used in larger orthopedic surgeries.

Specialized Clamps

1. Pennington Clamp: Often used in gynecological and rectal surgeries.
2. Tonsil Clamp: Long clamp designed for tonsil surgeries or reaching deep tissues.
3. Ballenger Swivel Clamp: Used in ENT procedures for nasal or throat surgeries.

Conclusion

Surgical clamps are indispensable in the operating room, with each type designed for specific tasks to ensure precision and efficiency. Proper selection and use of the appropriate clamp contribute significantly to the success of a surgical procedure.