# Instruments used in general surgery

There are many different surgical specialties, some of which require specific kinds of surgical instruments to perform.
General surgery is a specialty focused on the abdomen; the thyroid gland; diseases involving skin, breasts, and various soft tissues; trauma; peripheral vascular disease; hernias; and endoscopic procedures.
Instruments can be classified in many ways, but, broadly speaking, there are five kinds of instruments.
* Cutting and dissecting instruments
* Grasping or holding instruments
* Hemostatic instruments
* Retractors
* Tissue unifying instruments and materials
Instruments used in surgery are:
| Instrument Name | Brief description | Specific instruments |
| Electrical cautery | Electrical surgical cauterization utilizes electricity in either a monopolar or bipolar format to burn soft tissue and control bleeding | Bovie pencil Monopolar hook Monopolar spatula Bipolar forceps |
| Curette | For scraping or debriding biological tissue or debris in a biopsy, excision, or cleaning procedure | |
| Dermatome | Removes epidermis to graft over another area | |
| Dissecting forceps | Grasping and holding; usually used in skin closures or small wounds | Adson |
| Tissue forceps | Grasping and holding tissue | Allis |
| Penetrating towel clamp | Used to secure towels or reduce bone fragments | Backhaus penetating towel clamp |
| Carmalt forceps | Hemostatic forceps | Kalabasa |
| Cushing forceps | Grasping and holding | Non-toothed dissecting forceps |
| Dandy forceps | Hemostatic forceps | |
| DeBakey forceps | Grasping and holding | Non-toothed dissecting forceps designed for use on blood vessels, organs, or delicate tissue |
| Doyen intestinal clamp | Clamps and distractors | Non-crushing clamp designed for use on the intestines |
| Kelly forceps | Hemostatic forceps | |
| Kocher forceps | Hemostatic forceps | |
| Mosquito forceps | Hemostatic forceps | |
| Hook | Retractor | |
| Nerve hook | Retractor | |
| Skin hook | Retractor | |
| Lancet (scalpel) | Cutting | |
| Mammotome | | |
| Needle holder | Grasping and holding | Castroviejo Crilewood Mayo-Hegar Olsen-Hegar |
| Retractor | Retractor | Handheld: Deaver Weitlander Army-Navy Richardson Richardson-Eastmann Ribbon Self-retaining: O'Connor-O'Sullivan Thompson Omni-Tract |
| Ultrasonic scalpel | Cutting | |
| Laser scalpel | Cutting | |
| Scissors | Cutting and spreading | May be curved or straight Iris Metzenbaum's Mayo Tenotomy |
| Speculum | Used to retract orifices | Graves' Sim's |
| Suction tube and Yankeur suction tip | Accessories and implants | |
| Surgical elevator | | |
| Surgical hook | Retractor | |
| Surgical blade #15 | Used to cut vessels or make small incisions | |
| Surgical mesh | Accessories and implants | |
| Surgical needle | Accessories and implants | |
| Surgical sponge | | |
| GIA stapler | Used to make a gastrointestinal anastamosis | Linear stapler |
| Surgical tray | | |
| Suture | | |
| Tongue depressor | | |
| Tonsillotome | | |
| Towel clamp | Clamp | |
| Towel forceps | Clamp | |
| Backhaus towel forceps | | |
| Lorna towel clamp | Non-penatrating towel clamp | |
| Tracheotome | | |
| Tissue expander | Accessories and implant | |
| Subcutaneous inflatable balloon expander | Accessories and implants | |
| Trephine | Cutting instrument | |
| Trocar | Access instrument. Used to create an opening into a space without opening the abdominal cavity. A camera is inserted through one to view the interior while instruments are inserted through the others to manipulate the organs. | |
| Ultrasonic energy device | Surgical device typically used to dissect tissue, but also seals small vessels and tissue bundles |