A hemostat (also called a hemostatic clamp, arterial forceps, or pean after

Jules-Émile Péan Jules-Émile Péan (29 November 1830 – 20 January 1898) was one of the great French surgeons of the 19th century. Péan was born in 1830 in Marboué, french department of Eure-et-Loir. He studied at the college of Chartres and then studied m ...

) is a

surgical Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

tool used in many surgical procedures to control bleeding. For this reason, it is common in the initial phases of surgery for the initial incision to be lined with hemostats which close blood vessels awaiting

ligation Ligation may refer to: * Ligation (molecular biology), the covalent linking of two ends of DNA or RNA molecules * In medicine, the making of a ligature (tie) * Chemical ligation, the production of peptides from amino acids * Tubal ligation, a meth ...

. Hemostats belong to a group of instruments that

pivot Pivot may refer to: *Pivot, the point of rotation in a lever system *More generally, the center point of any rotational system *Pivot joint, a kind of joint between bones in the body *Pivot turn, a dance move Companies *Incitec Pivot, an Austra ...

(similar to scissors, and including needle holders, tissue holders and various clamps) where the structure of the tip determines its function. The hemostat has handles that can be held in place by their locking mechanism. The locking mechanism is typically a series of interlocking teeth, a few on each handle, that allow the user to adjust the clamping force of the pliers. When locked together, the force between the tips is approximately 40 N (9

lbf The pound of force or pound-force (symbol: lbf, sometimes lbf,) is a unit of force used in some systems of measurement, including English Engineering units and the foot–pound–second system. Pound-force should not be confused with pound-m ...

History

The earliest known drawing of a pivoting surgical instrument dates back to 1500 BC on a tomb at Thebes,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. Later

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

bronze and steel pivot-controlled instruments were found in Pompeii. In the ninth century AD

Abulcasis Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn al-'Abbās al-Zahrāwī al-Ansari ( ar, أبو القاسم خلف بن العباس الزهراوي;‎ 936–1013), popularly known as al-Zahrawi (), Latinised as Albucasis (from Arabic ''Abū al-Qāsim''), was ...

made illustrations of pivoting instruments for tooth extraction. The concept of clamping a bleeding vessel with an instrument before tying it off is generally attributed to

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one ...

(second century AD). This method of

hemostasis In biology, hemostasis or haemostasis is a process to prevent and stop bleeding, meaning to keep blood within a damaged blood vessel (the opposite of hemostasis is hemorrhage). It is the first stage of wound healing. This involves coagulation, ...

was largely forgotten until it was rediscovered by the French barber-surgeon Ambroise Paré in the 16th century. He made the predecessor to the modern hemostat and called it the Bec de Corbin (crow's beak) (see image below). With it he could clamp a bleeding vessel before securing it with a

ligature Ligature may refer to: * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure ** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry * Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...

. Image:Bec_de_corbin.png, Bec de Corbin The modern hemostat is credited to several persons, the foremost of which is

. Later surgeons (i.e.

William Halsted William Stewart Halsted, M.D. (September 23, 1852 – September 7, 1922) was an American surgeon who emphasized strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures, was an early champion of newly discovered anesthetics, and introduced several ...

) made minor alterations to the design.

List of hemostats

*Rankin forceps *

Kelly forceps Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...

*Satinsky clamps * Kocher forceps * Crile forceps *Halsted Mosquito forceps *Mixter "right angle" forceps *

Spencer Wells Spencer Wells (born April 6, 1969) is an American geneticist, anthropologist, author and entrepreneur. He co-hosts The Insight podcast with Razib Khan. Wells led The Genographic Project from 2005 to 2015, as an Explorer-in-Residence at the N ...

artery forcepshttps://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co170257/spencer-wells-artery-forceps-artery-forceps Science Museum Group, "Spencer Wells artery forceps"

History

List of hemostats

See also

References

Further reading