Spatula

Spatula is a surgical device consisting of a metallic foil and a suitable handle which is used for different tasks in surgical procedures. It can be useful for containing viscera, retracting or protecting some important anatomical structure during the procedure. Shape, angle of the handle and dimensions are dependant on the usage the surgeon has to do.

In neurosurgery, spatula is used to retract parts of the brain to gain access to the surgical target for the duration of the retraction. In this field spatula are bendable and can be fitted into any desired shape needed for the specific task. Self-retaining brain spatula are recently developed and now they're considered more efficient than the hand-held ones because they allow the neurosurgeon to work unhindered by an assistants hand. Moreover retraction with hand-held spatula is unstable and in some cases produces an unnecessarily high brain pressure.

For surgeons, one of the most important issues of learning how to use a brain spatula is to learn how much force to apply to it.

Prolonged use of spatula brain retraction is often associated to cerebral tissue ischemic damages.