A new bayonet spring microsurgical instrument handle with a bar for microneurosurgery

BACKGROUND: The bayonet-shaped spring surgical instrument is essential and perhaps the most important tool in microneurosurgery. It is needed to be handled gently, and so stable handling to the spring tension of the long instrument handle is necessary for fine action in narrow and deep operative fields under an operating microscope. METHODS: A bayonet spring microsurgical instrument handle with a bar as a stabilizer is presented for facilitating delicate microsurgical manipulations stably in microneurosurgery. The bar with the handle is a metric projection. The grip of this instrument is a modified writing grasp, which is composed of writing grasp and sandwiching a lateral-projected bar with handle between the medial side of the index finger and the lateral side of the middle finger. Then, this bar as a stabilizer of the instrument is suitable to fix it. RESULTS: Microneurosurgical operations using this instrument system were performed. This was advantageous to stabilize the instrument in deep and narrow operative fields, to be sensitive to move its functional tips by fingertips, and to reduce unwanted movements under an operating microscope. This was disadvantageous to limit the rotational movement within fingers. There were no complications. CONCLUSION: This handle would provide a steady and balanced grip to ensure precise manipulation of the functional tips of the bayonet instrument for microneurosurgery. It may be useful particularly for the beginners or for the non-dominant hand of microsurgeons.