- Forceps
- An instrument with two blades and a handle used for handling, grasping, or compressing. Many types of forceps are employed in medicine, including the alligator forceps (an angled instrument with jaws at the end), tissue forceps (a form of tweezer), hemostatic forceps (also simply called a hemostat, to clamp a bleeding vessel), mosquito forceps (a small hemostat) and obstetrical forceps (to aid in delivering a baby). The word "forceps" comes directly from the Latin for an instrument designed to grasp, pluck, or lift. The term was derived from "formus" =(hot) + "capere" (to grasp) and designated an instrument used to grasp something too hot to handle with ones hands.
* * *1. An instrument to grasp a structure, for compression or traction. Cf.:clamp. 2. [TA] Bands of white fibers in the brain, major f. and minor f.. [L. a pair of tongs]- alligator f. a long f. with a small hinged jaw on the end.- Allis f. a straight grasping f. with serrated jaws, used to forcibly grasp or retract tissues or structures.- arterial f. a locking f. with sloping blades for grasping the end of a blood vessel until a ligature is applied.- axis-traction f. obstetrical f. provided with a second handle so attached that traction can be made in the line in which the head must move in the axis of the pelvis.- Barton f. an obstetrical f. with one fixed curved blade and a hinged anterior blade for application to a high transverse head.- bulldog f. a soft-bladed f. for occluding a blood vessel.- bullet f. a f. with thin curved blades with serrated grasping surfaces, for extracting a bullet from tissues.- capsule f. f. used for removing the capsule of the lens in extracapsular extraction of a cataract.- Chamberlen f. the original obstetrical f., without a curvature.- clamp f. a f. with pronged jaws designed to engage the jaws of a rubber dam clamp so that they may be separated to pass over the widest buccolingual contour of a tooth. SYN: rubber dam clamp f..- cup biopsy f. a slender flexible f. with movable cup-shaped jaws, used to obtain biopsy specimens by introduction through a specially designed endoscope.- cutting f. SYN: labitome.- DeBakey f. nontraumatic f. used to pick up blood vessel s; also known as “magics.” SYN: magic f..- dressing f. a thumb f. for general use in dressing wounds, removing fragments of necrotic tissue, small foreign bodies, etc.- extracting f. SYN: dental f..- Graefe f. a small thumb f. with one horizontal row of six or eight delicate teeth across each tip.- hemostatic f. a f. with a catch for locking the blades, used for seizing the end of a blood vessel to control hemorrhage.- jeweller f. a small thumb f. with very fine pointed blades, used to grasp tissues in microsurgical procedures.- Levret f. a modification of the Chamberlen f., curved to correspond to the curve of the parturient passage.- lion-jaw bone-holding f. a sturdy f. with strong sharp teeth in the jaws, used for holding bone fragments.- Löwenberg f. f. with short curved blades ending in rounded grasping extremities devised for the removal of adenoid growths in the nasopharynx.- magic f. SYN: DeBakey f..- Magill f. a bent blunt f. used to facilitate nasotracheal intubation.- major f. [TA] occipital radiation of the corpus callosum; that part of the fiber radiation of the corpus callosum which bends sharply backward into the occipital lobe of the cerebrum. SYN: f. major [TA], occipital f., f. occipitalis, f. posterior, occipital part of corpus callosum, pars occipitalis corporis callosi.- minor f. [TA] frontal radiation of the corpus callosum; that part of the fiber radiation of the corpus callosum which bends forward toward the frontal pole of the cerebrum. SYN: f. minor [TA], f. frontalis, frontal f., f. anterior, frontal part of corpus callosum, pars frontalis corporis callosi.- mouse-tooth f. a f. with one or two fine points at the tip of each blade, fitting into hollows between the points on the opposite blade.- needle f. SYN: needle-holder.- nonfenestrated f. obstetrical f. without openings in the blades, thus facilitating rotation of the head.- obstetrical f. f. used for grasping and applying traction to or for rotation of the fetal head; the blades are introduced separately into the genital canal, permitting the fetal head to be grasped firmly but with minimal compression, and then are articulated after being placed in correct position.- f. occipitalis SYN: major f..- O'Hara f. two slender clamp f. held together by a serrefine, once used in intestinal anastomosis; now obsolete.- Randall stone f. a f. with variably curved slender blades and serrated jaws, used to extract calculi from the renal pelvis or calices.- Simpson f. an obstetrical f..- tying f. an instrument with flat, smooth tips used in ophthalmic surgery, particularly for tying sutures.- vulsella f., vulsellum f. a f. with hooks at the tip of each blade. SYN: volsella, vulsella, vulsellum.- Willett f. obsolete term for a traction f. used to treat placenta previa by pulling the fetal head down against the placenta.
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for·ceps 'fȯr-səps, -.seps n, pl forceps an instrument for grasping, holding firmly, or exerting traction upon objects esp. for delicate operations (as by surgeons, obstetricians, or dentists)* * *
n.a pincer-like instrument designed to grasp an object so that it can be held firm or pulled. Specially designed forceps - of which there are many varieties - are used by surgeons and dentists in operations. The forceps used in childbirth are so designed as to fit firmly round the baby's head without damaging it. Dental extraction forceps are specially designed to fit the various shapes of teeth. By having long handles and short beaks they provide considerable leverage.* * *
for·ceps (forґseps) [L.] 1. an instrument with two blades and a handle for compressing or grasping tissues in surgical operations, and for handling sterile dressings and other surgical supplies. See accompanying table. 2. an organ or part shaped like the surgical instrument, particularly the terminal fibers of the corpus callosum.
Some types of forceps. (A), Alligator forceps (straight); (B), Halsted mosquito hemostatic forceps (straight); (C), Adson tissue forceps (teeth); (D), Allis tissue forceps; (E), Allis-Adair tissue forceps; (F), Heaney hysterectomy forceps (single tooth, curved); (G), Heaney-Ballentine hysterectomy forceps (single tooth, curved); (H), Schroeder uterine tenaculum forceps (single tooth); (I), Schroeder uterine vulsellum forceps (double tooth, straight).
Medical dictionary. 2011.
