The “push-down” technique using a novel micro-forceps for microvascular venous coupling

Abstract

A microvascular coupling system was developed and introduced for clinical application to facilitate fast and safe anastomosis of small vessels. However, operators often encounter some difficulty, particularly in pinning the vascular wall onto the ring-pins. To overcome the difficulty, the authors developed the “push down” technique and made newly-designed micro-forceps. These forceps have been used in 111 venous couplings involving 96 critical anastomoses. This study reports herein the patency results showing effectiveness and safety of the “push down” technique using a prototype micro-forceps in the pinning procedure in a microvascular coupling system.

Key Words::

• Microvascular venous coupling
• micro-forceps
• microvascular anastomosis

Acknowledgements

A preliminary report on some materials in the paper was presented in the 12th annual meeting of Tohoku Microsurgery Conference in Sendai, Japan, December 2006, and in the annual meeting of the 34th Japanese Society of Microsurgery in Fukushima, Japan, October 2007. The forceps described was registered as a microsurgical instrument in the Japan Patent Office on 8 December 2006 (No.2006-357145) but was not claimed for patency. The prototype used in this study was manufactured by MEDICAL U & A, Osaka, Japan.