Bone cutter

A bone cutter

Bone cutter is a surgical instrument used to cut or remove bones.

Types of medical bone cutters include:

Unpowered

Unpowered bone cutting implements include varieties of hacksaw and sabre saw. In many applications, the saw is used in specialised jigs to provide accurate, measurable cuts, e.g. in knee surgery. Specialized saws such as the Gigli saw, a cable made of sharp strands of wire, are also used in some procedures.

Reciprocating

Usually a powered rotary oscillation is applied to a specialised cutting implement to provide smooth controllable cuts into bone, for applications, from skull cutting to rib cutting. A sternal saw is a reciprocating bone cutter.

Sonic, or sound cutting

Still experimental, but its primary focus is to use high frequency, high amplitude sound to remove material (in this case bone), providing the ability to cut. Some tissue sonic cutters are being produced.

Costotome

A costotome in the open position

A Costotome is a specialised rib cutter used to gain access to the thoracic cavity. It has two levers, the first one to be operated grasps the rib, the second one cuts the rib. ^[1][2]

See also

• Instruments used in general surgery

References