Takahashi Nasal Cutting Forceps | Fenestrated Cups, Curved or Straight

What a Takahashi nasal cutting forceps is

A closed cup inside a nose fills with blood. The surgeon closes the jaws, feels resistance, and some of that resistance is fluid rather than tissue. The fenestration is how the Takahashi gets rid of that problem: a window through each cup face, so whatever is liquid leaves and whatever is solid stays.

It also means you can see into the bite. Through the window, with a headlight or a scope, the surgeon can tell whether the jaw has a piece of polyp, a piece of turbinate, or a piece of something he would rather not take, and that is worth more in a bloody field than any amount of feel.

The pattern sits between the two Jansen Middletons in how it behaves, and the rule that separates those two is this: a cup holds what it has just taken out, and a through cutting jaw leaves it in the wound, so the choice is about whether you want the fragment in your hand or on the drape, and a fenestrated cup does a bit of both: it holds the fragment loosely enough that the surgeon can see it and firmly enough to bring it out.

It is listed as a Takahashi nasal cutting forceps, as a nasal cutting forceps, as a fenestrated nasal forceps, as a nasal polyp forceps and as an ethmoid forceps, which is where it does a great deal of its work. Google’s own description of the class names the job: resecting ethmoidal air cells and navigating deep, confined sinus passages, along with polypectomy and biopsy.

Our record carries the curved or straight tip choice and nothing else. Rival listings quote a 4 by 10 mm cup and a 12 cm working length and price the pattern at 285.99 dollars; ours is 32. We publish their price for comparison and not their measurements as ours.

Key design features

The fenestration, and the two things it does

A window through each cup face. Fluid escapes rather than being compressed, so the jaw closes on tissue; and the surgeon can see into the bite before committing to pulling. Those are two separate benefits from one hole and it is why the pattern survives on sinus trays.

A cup that holds, loosely

Not as firm a grip as a solid spoon cup, which is deliberate. A fenestrated cup takes the fragment out of the nose without clamping it, which matters on polyp tissue that tears if it is gripped hard and pulled.

Curved or straight tip

Our own attribute. Straight for the septum and the anterior ethmoid; curved to get round the middle turbinate and into the posterior cells. On a sinus list the curved one does most of the work.

Light in the hand

This is a lighter instrument than the double action patterns and that is the point of it. A long sinus case is a hundred small bites, and an instrument that is heavier than it needs to be is felt in the forearm by the end of the afternoon.

Which tip to order, and what we do not publish

One decision, and one row of honesty.

Where it is used

Sinus and septal work, and the biopsy that comes with both.

What it holds back, and what it must not do

A window in a cup is a compromise and the right hand column says where the line is.

How it compares with the rest of the family

Four cutting forceps and the question is what you want to happen to the piece.

Materials and finish

Every Takahashi nasal cutting forceps we make is cut from high quality medical grade stainless steel. The steel itself is made to a German specification. We do not publish a grade number. The number on a certificate tells a surgeon nothing about whether the rim around a fenestration is still smooth after two hundred autoclave cycles, because that rim is a cut edge in the middle of a working face, and the answer to that is in the making rather than in the alloy.

The window is cut and then the rim around it is finished by hand. A fenestration with a burr on its edge is a small blade sitting in the middle of the jaw, and on polyp tissue that is exactly where an unwanted tear starts. It is the one operation in making this instrument that cannot be rushed.

The two cups are ground as a matched pair so the rims meet all the way round. There is no sharp external edge anywhere on the outline.

Caring for it

Flush through the fenestration, both ways. It is the only instrument in this family with a hole through the working face and it is the only one where tissue can dry on the far side of something.

Warm water, a soft brush through the window as well as around it. Autoclave with the tray. Look at the rim of each window under good light every so often: a rim that has roughened is the first thing on this instrument to cause damage, and it does it quietly.

Ordering and wholesale

Every Takahashi nasal cutting forceps is made by Adas Instruments in our own workshop and sold direct, which is why the price sits where it does against the catalog houses. Order one for a single tray, or in quantity for a hospital list or a distributor line. We do OEM work under your own brand and your own item numbers. Send us a sample and we will hold a run to your pattern rather than ours. Stock items ship from our own workshop. Backorder items take 10 to 12 working days to make. Every instrument carries a three year replacement warranty against manufacturing defects. Production is controlled under an ISO 13485 quality management system.

Frequently asked questions

What are Takahashi forceps used for?

Cutting and removing tissue in the nose and sinuses: ethmoid cells, polyps, septal cartilage and biopsy samples. The fenestrated cups let fluid out of the jaw and let the surgeon see what is in the bite.

What does fenestrated mean on a nasal forceps?

That each cup face has a window cut through it. Blood and saline escape instead of being trapped and compressed, so the jaw closes on tissue rather than on fluid, and the bite is visible through the hole before you pull.

Is the Takahashi an ethmoid forceps?

It is one of the instruments the term covers, yes. Google describes nasal cutting forceps as essential for resecting ethmoidal air cells and navigating deep sinus passages, and this pattern on a curved tip is the common choice for that.

What size are the cups?

We do not publish a figure. Our own record carries the curved or straight tip choice and nothing else, and the 4 by 10 mm cup on rival listings is their measurement of their instrument. It is on our list.

Takahashi or Weil Blakesley?

Both have fenestrated cups. The Weil Blakesley comes in five Fig sizes and three angles, so it is the one to buy if you want a range; the Takahashi is one jaw in a curved or straight tip and it is lighter in the hand on a long list.

Related products and categories

For the same fenestrated cup in five sizes and three angles, the Weil Blakesley nasal cutting forceps. For a solid cup that holds a graft firmly, the Jansen Middleton with spoon shaped cups. For a clean through cut, the Gruenwald nasal through cutting forceps.

The rest of this family sits under nasal cutting, crusher and septum forceps, and the specula and polypus instruments that work alongside it are under nasal specula and polypus instruments.