| abstract |
Two laparoscopic graspers are merged, having one external sheath, one handle, two pairs of jaws, two actuating rods, and two controls. Two instruments may now be used in one hand, through one port, facilitating intra-corporeal knot tying. This new “laparoscopic dual grasper” is designed to enable the passing of one end of the suture around the opposite strand to make the required “throw”. This same instrument with the additional feature of the external shaft split into two halves, with a sliding connection, permits one of the two graspers to extend further, enabling two adjacent points on the same suture to be brought together, producing a loop, which is an alternate method of making the “throw” in the tying of a knot. |