Abstract
The authors discuss a spatula that has been devised with a new type of tip which, when used in cranial surgery, prevents the cranial nerves and blood vessels from being injured. This spatula also is beneficial in preventing cerebral lacerations and/or tearing when used in widening a corticotomy. The main innovation that distinguishes this spatula from other spatulas is that one tip has a semicylindrical shape whereas the other tip has been left flat, and since this spatula is made of copper and has a teflon coating, it can be bent to form a desired shape. Also, When used for a tumor removal or the evacuation of a hematoma, the spatula can be attached to a self-retaining retractor. This new spatula in now commercially available, and has been used in over ten cases that have included an intracerebral hematoma, a cerebellar tumor, a cerebello-pontine angle tumor, and the dissection of a sylvian fissure for an aneurysmal clipping, and in no instance did a complication develop.
