The term surgical instrument is used to describe a medical tool that carries out a specific task during surgery or a medical procedure.

A very common example would be a scalpel blade which is used to cut biological tissue.

As medicine has progressed over the last 50 - 100 years thousands of different surgical instruments are now widely available to service a huge number of general AND highly skilled surgical tasks.

History of the Surgical Instrument

Surgical instruments have been used since prehistoric times, archaeologists have found examples of - 'trephines' in many neolithic sites. It is thought they were used to release evil spirits and headtraumas by shamans which were the doctors of the time.

It was in Greece and Rome that surgeons started to make surgical instruments from bronze, iron and silver: this includes scalpels, tweezers, forceps, probes and surgical knives. These instruments continued to be used well until medieval times when their original designs and manufacturing techniques were improved.

It was during the renaissance and post renaissance era, with the advent of anesthesia and surgical asepsis that new surgical tools were developed to allow penetration of the previously forbidden body cavities (skull, thorax and abdomen). This caused the bloom of a wide variety of new tools to complement the massive number of new surgical procedures.

By the 20th century surgical instruments were being made out of new materials namely - stainless steel, chrome, titanium and vandium.

During the 20th century precision surgical instruments were also developed for microsurgery, neurosurgery and otology. By the end of the 20th century energy based instruments had been invented such as ultrasound and electric scalpels and finally in very recent times we know have surgical robots to carry out very delicate maneuvers.

Two common modern day surgical instruments

Surgical Scalpels: One of the most common surgical instruments on the market today is the scalpel blade. The scalpel is a small, extremely sharp knife use for surgery and anatomical dissection. In general scalpel blades are disposable while the shaft of the knife is retained, steralised and reused, but they can also come with disposable handles.

Forceps: Forceps are a hinged hand held medical device used to holding objects when carrying out a medical procedure. The terms forceps remains a completely medical term, outwith medicine forceps are more commonly referred to as - tweezers, tongs and pliers.