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<\/a>Fan-shaped Abdominal Spatula after dr. Poisson. Aesculap (Jetter und Scherer), distributed by the \u010c\u00ed\u017eek Brothers, 1930s. NML Medical Museum, NN 374. Photograph by Veronika L\u00f6blov\u00e1<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
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Object of the Month: February 2022<\/span><\/h1>\nFan-shaped Spatula<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/h1>\n
When the abdominal cavity is open by incision (laparotomy) for ileus surgery or Caesarian section, intra-abdominal pressure may rise, pushing intestinal loops into the cut, preventing suture. An assistant, if available, can compress the intestine by hand, the surgeon may use a wide spatula. Both hand and spatula, however, get in the way of closing the wound. In emergency conditions, any instrument that frees the surgeon\u2019s pair of hands is invaluable. The fan-shaped spatula, designed by Louis Poisson (1850-1939), Professor of Surgery at the Medical School in Nantes, is inserted into the wound, opened and locked with a screw. The metal leaves protect the intestine. For suture, the screw is unlocked and the spatula folded to fit the narrowing wound. Poisson\u2019s spatula \u2013 made of metal for easy sterilization \u2013 appeared as a \u201etechnical novelty\u201c in the 1910 Maurice Schaerer (Bern) surgical instrument catalogue<\/a>. The Jetter und Scherer Company<\/a> in Tuttlingen (Aesculap) took it up in 1922, listing it among gynecological instruments.<\/p>\nIn the same year, a very similar tool was devised<\/a> by Ren\u00e9 Sommer (1891-1941), then Assistant Physician at the Greifswald surgical clinic. Sommer\u2019s fan was more curved, it opened with a linen band run through slits in the metal leaves and was secured with a cr\u00e9maill\u00e8re, rack-and-pinion lock. The author considered this modification a marked improvement on the original, but manufacturers took little notice. Poisson\u2019s spatula was available to surgeons until the 1930<\/a>s. No post-war textbooks and catalogues appear to list this ingenious instrument.<\/p>\n
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When the abdominal cavity is open by incision (laparotomy) for ileus surgery or Caesarian section, intra-abdominal pressure may rise, pushing intestinal loops into the cut, preventing suture. An assistant, if available, can compress the intestine by hand, the surgeon may use a wide spatula. Both hand and spatula, however, get in the way of closing the wound. In emergency conditions, any instrument that frees the surgeon\u2019s pair of hands is invaluable. The fan-shaped spatula, designed by Louis Poisson (1850-1939), Professor of Surgery at the Medical School in Nantes, is inserted into the wound, opened and locked with a screw. The metal leaves protect the intestine. For suture, the screw is unlocked and the spatula folded to fit the narrowing wound. Poisson\u2019s spatula \u2013 made of metal for easy sterilization \u2013 appeared as a \u201etechnical novelty\u201c in the 1910 Maurice Schaerer (Bern) surgical instrument catalogue<\/a>. The Jetter und Scherer Company<\/a> in Tuttlingen (Aesculap) took it up in 1922, listing it among gynecological instruments.<\/p>\n In the same year, a very similar tool was devised<\/a> by Ren\u00e9 Sommer (1891-1941), then Assistant Physician at the Greifswald surgical clinic. Sommer\u2019s fan was more curved, it opened with a linen band run through slits in the metal leaves and was secured with a cr\u00e9maill\u00e8re, rack-and-pinion lock. The author considered this modification a marked improvement on the original, but manufacturers took little notice. Poisson\u2019s spatula was available to surgeons until the 1930<\/a>s. No post-war textbooks and catalogues appear to list this ingenious instrument.<\/p>\n
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