Patent ID: 6896654

Claim:
A surgical retractor for retracting generally opposed body tissue edges away from each other so as to form a tissue opening therebetween, said tissue opening extending generally in an opening geometrical plane, each of said tissue edges intercepting a tissue outer surface and a tissue inner surface, said surgical retractor allowing the insertion of a surgical implement into said tissue opening, said surgical retractor comprising: a generally elongated guide member, said guide member defining a guide member first end and a generally opposed guide member second end; a first spreader arm and a second spreader arm, said first spreader arm defining a first arm first end and a generally opposed first arm second end, said second spreader arm defining a second arm first end and a generally opposed second arm second end; said first and second spreader arms being mechanically coupled to said guide member adjacent said first and second arm first ends so that said first and second arm second ends are unattached to one another and positioned generally away from said guide member; said first and second spreader arms being movable relative to each other along said guide member between a first position wherein said first and second spreader arms are in a generally adjacent relationship relative to each other and a second position wherein said first and second spreader arms are in a generally spaced apart relationship relative to each other; a first retractor blade and a second retractor blade respectively extending from said first and second spreader arms, said first and second retractor blades respectively defining a first and a second blade contacting surface for respectively engaging said opposed body tissue edges during retraction thereof away from each other; at least an arm section of said first or second spreader arms and at least a surface section of said first or second blade contacting surfaces both having a non-rectilinear configuration in a reference geometrical plane generally parallel to said opening geometrical plane.