Needle holder

A needle holder, also called needle driver, is a surgical instrument, similar to a hemostat, used by doctors and surgeons to hold a suturing needle for closing wounds during suturing and surgical procedures.

The parts of a simple needle holder are the jaws, the joint and the handles. Most needle holders also have a clamp mechanism that locks the needle in place, allowing the user to maneuver the needle through various tissues. To maintain a firm grip on the needle, the jaws are often textured and short compared to the handles (increasing the applied force following the principle of a lever).

An example is the Castroviejo needle holder, which is commonly used in eye surgery and microsurgery.

Origin
The contents of this page were copied from the Wikipedia article Needle_holder on 8 January 2013.