Adson Suction Tube

What an Adson suction tube is

An adson suction tube is a slender one piece steel cannula with a finely tapered tip and a smooth bore running through it. It belongs to the same family as the Frazier and does the same job, which is taking fluid out of the way so the operation can be seen, and it is chosen when the opening is tight and already occupied. Everything about the shape follows from that: slim rather than wide, tapered rather than square, and polished inside so a bore that narrow still runs clear.

The name causes more trouble than the instrument does. Adson forceps are far better known than the Adson suction tube, so a search for one brings back the other, and suction tubing is a plastic hose rather than anything in steel. Both are covered further down, because a buyer who orders the wrong one of the three has lost a week.

Key design features

The slender shaft, which is the whole point of the pattern

An Adson tube is slim for its job. In a nasal cavity or an ear canal the instrument has to share the opening with whatever else is already in there, and a shaft that fills the space has stopped being useful whatever its bore can shift. Slimness is also what lets the tube be worked one handed against tissue that pushes back, because less of it is in contact with the sides.

The tapered tip

The working end tapers rather than ending square. A square edge on a suction tube takes mucosa with it the moment the pull goes on, and in a nose or an ear that turns a clear field into a bleeding one. Tapering and polishing the end costs a little suction right at the rim and saves the tissue, which is the right trade in this part of the body.

The smooth internal lumen

This is the part of a suction tube nobody can see and everybody feels. A bore with a ridge halfway down holds a clot that no amount of flushing shifts, and a bore with a burr at the tip pulls tissue into itself. Ours is finished from both ends so the inside is as clean as the outside, which is also why it still runs clear after a few hundred cycles.

One piece, with nothing to come apart

Handle, shaft and tip are one piece of steel: no brazed joint behind the tip, no threaded collar, no gasket. A suction instrument spends its working life full of blood and its cleaning life full of detergent, so a seam is somewhere for protein to sit where no brush reaches. There are none on this one.

What to specify when you order one

This product does not carry a size attribute on our site, so rather than print a bore we hold no data for, here is what to tell us and what we will do if you are not sure.

Where it is used

It is chosen for the shape of the opening rather than for the specialty, which is why the same tube turns up on very different trays.

What it clears, and what it must not touch

A fine lumen reaches what a wide one cannot and blocks on what a wide one swallows. Both halves of that are worth knowing before ordering.

Five things that get called an Adson or a suction tube

Google returns tissue forceps questions for this product name, which tells you how often the two get confused. Here is what each of the five is.

Materials and finish

Every adson suction tube 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, because the number on a certificate tells a surgeon nothing about whether a fine lumen still runs clear after two hundred autoclave cycles, and the answer to that is in the bore and the finish rather than in the alloy.

The bore is finished from both ends and the tip is tapered by hand, which on this pattern is the whole craft of it. A burr at the rim pulls mucosa into the tube the first time the pull goes on, and a ridge inside stops a clot where you cannot see it. The outside gets a satin finish rather than a mirror one, because a mirror shaft throws light back at whoever is looking down the same opening.

Caring for it

Flush it while it is still wet. A syringe of warm water in at the handle and out at the tip does more for the working life of this tube than anything later in the day. Dried blood in a fine lumen is why suction tubes get thrown away, and it is almost always avoidable.

Then ultrasonic cleaning, a neutral pH enzymatic detergent, a rinse in deionized water and full drying before it is packed. Autoclave at 134 degrees Celsius. Do not leave it soaking in saline, which pits steel faster than blood does, and keep steel bristle brushes out of the bore: they score it and give the next clot a hold.

Ordering and wholesale

Every Adson suction tube we sell is made in our own workshop and sold direct, which is why the price sits where it does against the catalogue houses. Order one for a single set, or in quantity for a hospital list or a distributor line; we do OEM work under your own brand and your own item numbers, and we will hold a run to your pattern rather than ours if you send a sample. 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 is an Adson suction tube used for?

Clearing blood, irrigation fluid and debris out of a surgical field so the surgeon can see. It is chosen over a wider tube when the opening is tight and something else is already in it, which in practice means ENT and nasal surgery, ear work, neurosurgery and microsurgical trays.

Is an Adson suction tube the same as Adson forceps?

No, and it is the most common mix up in this part of the catalogue. Adson forceps are a thumb forceps for holding skin and tissue, with no suction and no lumen. An Adson suction tube is a hollow cannula that moves fluid. Both carry the name of the same neurosurgeon, Alfred Adson, which is the only thing they have in common. If you want the forceps, they are in the forceps family and not on this page.

What is the difference between a suction tube and suction tubing?

A suction tube is the steel instrument the surgeon holds. Suction tubing is the clear plastic hose that runs from the back of that instrument to the machine, and it is a disposable consumable sold by the box. Prices sit a long way apart for that reason, so a quote for one is not a quote for the other. We make the instrument.

What is the difference between an Adson and a Frazier suction tube?

Shape and what comes with it. A Frazier carries a bend in the shaft and is normally sold with a wire stylet, which suits a field that is deep as well as narrow. An Adson is the plainer, slimmer tube for a tight opening. Both are counted in French gauge, so tell us the Fr number and the length your list uses and we will confirm the Adson from the workshop rather than guess it for you.

What is a suction tube used for?

Taking fluid out of the way so the operation can be seen. That means blood, irrigation fluid, saline wash, thin secretion and cautery smoke. The pattern chosen depends on the shape of the opening rather than on the fluid, which is why a tray usually carries more than one.

Related products and categories

For a field that is deep as well as narrow, the Frazier suction tube carries a bend and comes with a stylet, and the Frazier suction tube set of 7 covers its whole bore range in one case. Where tissue has to be lifted as well as cleared, the Daniel endoscopic suction scalp elevator does both in one pass. The rest of the family sits in suction instruments, and the nasal patterns are listed under rhinoplasty instruments.