title: A new suction instrument for spinal surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Spinal surgical procedures share the technical difficulty of having to preserve the integrity of the dura mater in a surgical field with different degrees of hemorrhage. This difficulty is particularly evident in the surgery of degenerative diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  We have developed a new surgical sucker that allows an easy dissection of the dural sac from adjacent structures and improves the overall surgical manipulation during degenerative lumbar spinal procedures. The present technical note describes this newly developed suction device that comprises a slightly oval spatula positioned at an angle of 30° to the bore of the suction tube.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Attending to the combination of a spatula and a suction device, it offers several advantages when compared to the instruments that are currently available. Namely, it facilitates the dissection of the ligamentum flavum from the subjacent dura mater, separating and holding this ligamentum from the dura mater; it also allows a slight retraction of the dural sac without direct suction and a better illumination of the surgical field through light reflected from the spatula.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Santo António General Hospital, Porto, Portugal. jlreis@icbas.up.pt
authors.forename: Joaquim L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Reis
authors.forename: Márcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tizziani
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Velasco
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013131:Spine / Q000601:surgery*; D013396:Suction / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013525:Surgical Instruments / Q000639:trends