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Category: December 2017

For this edition of the ASSH Perspectives newsletter, we asked you to write about your favorite “tool of the trade.” Whether it’s a dissector or a retractor, a Dorsal Spanning Plate or a vascular tourniquet kit, illustrations with patients or a plane graph curve that helps us predict the trajectory of “the next greatest technique,” our contributors have illuminated an array of tools that have helped them excel in their practices and their careers at large.

DRUJ Arthroscopy

By Michael R. Boland, MBChB, FRCS, FRACS For the patient with ulna wrist pain, my favorite tool is to arthroscope the distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ). I started doing radiocarpal and mid-carpal arthroscopy in 1997. I then started doing DRUJ arthroscopy in 2004, after realizing there was a way to visualize the structures and pathology proximal […]

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My Favorite Tool: The Dissector

By Alphonsus K. Chong, MD As hand surgeons, we have a wide variety of surgical instruments to help perform required operative tasks. Many of these tools have evolved to do very specialized functions that they perform effectively. In this group, the mini Hohmann retractors and K-wire sleeves come immediately to mind. My favorite tool, however, […]

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Vascular Tourniquet Kit

By Konstantinos T. Ditsios, MD, PhD All hand surgeons experience difficulty retrieving the proximal part of a disrupted flexor tendon through uninjured pulleys, especially in zone II. Many methods have been described but it all ends in personal preference and tools adequacy. The tool I choose to use is a vascular tourniquet kit commonly used […]

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Facilitating Percutaneous Needle Aponeurotomy

By Paul W. Gorman, MD  For my in-office percutaneous Dupuytren’s contracture releases, the assessment of a complete cordotomy is greatly facilitated by gently probing with a very thin, blunt, curved, tapered “Freer-like” elevator after I’ve needled the cord. It’s called a Penfield dissector, and Miltex has one that’s 3 mm wide at the tip, is […]

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Ode To The Dorsal Spanning Plate

By Nirav Gupta, DO Oh, great DSP Workhorse of bad wrist trauma You never fail me! The advent of a Level II trauma center in our community has brought in a volume of upper extremity trauma, which I was more accustomed to during my residency and fellowship. But that being said, I’ve certainly enjoyed the […]

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“Oh…Give Me The Scalpel!”

By Hill Hastings, II, MD Every student of anatomy begins surgical dissections with a scalpel. With trepidation he or she will incise the skin and then, with growing amazement, start to expose the intricate structures within. Without knowledge of the intricate anatomy, most will initially grasp for a pair scissors to explore the deeper tissue […]

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A Problem/Solution Drawing For Each Patient

By Anne Ouellette, MD, MBA  When I sit down with a patient, I place a blank piece of paper on the desk between us. As the patient and I begin to review their problems, I will draw the affected area on the paper as well as listing the diagnosis. After the examination, the problems, options […]

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Ex Fix

By Kevin M. Rumball, MD Penetrating injuries to the finger DIP joint or thumb IP joint may result in joint sepsis. It is not uncommon that patients present after several weeks. There is usually loss of articular cartilage by this time. Osteomyelitis is a concern. Patients may already have been treated with antibiotics. There may […]

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The Hand-O-Scope

By John V. Shufflebarger, MD My favorite tool of the trade is fluoroscopy. Both in the operating room and in my office, I find the image intensifier vital to my practice. It is hard for me to imagine life in our specialty before the mini C-arm. In the clinic, it provides an immediate evaluation of […]

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The Weitlaner Retractor

By Ramesh C. Srinivasan, MD The Weitlaner retractor, without a doubt, is my favorite tool of the trade! This is a self-retractor that replaces one or two surgical assistants. It is strong, stable, consistent and never gets tired. Although, it may erroneously answer to the following names: “wheatlander,” “weetlaner” or “wheatie,” it is correctly pronounced […]

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