Cottle Kazanjian Bone Cutting Forceps | Double Action

What Cottle Kazanjian bone cutting forceps are

Two surgeons’ names on one instrument usually means the pattern was refined rather than invented twice, and that is what happened here. The Kazanjian pattern came first and the Cottle version is the one that ended up on rhinoplasty trays, which is why it is specified under both names together.

What it is, mechanically, is a double action bone cutter. Two hinges rather than one, so the grip is multiplied twice before it reaches the blades. Google’s own explanation of the arrangement is the clear one: a dual pivot mechanism vastly increases mechanical advantage, where a single action instrument is lighter and suited to lower density bone. Nasal bone is not low density and that is why this instrument has two hinges.

There is a confusion about the name that is worth naming, because our own data measures it. GOOGLE THINKS KAZANJIAN MEANS A RETRACTOR. Our Search Console records “kazanjian retractor” bringing 10 impressions to this site at position 8.9, which is page one, and the Kazanjian name genuinely does belong to a well known retractor. This product is a BONE CUTTING FORCEPS. We have not taken the retractor phrase as a keyword, however good the position looks, because the person clicking it wants something else.

One more thing, said plainly because hiding it would be worse. THIS PRODUCT HAS NO ITEM CODE on our own record, and it is the only one of our published instruments without one. The last bullet on every page we write is the item code, so this page says the code is issued on order, and getting it a permanent one is on our own list.

It is also listed as a bone crushing forceps, which is a trade name for the class rather than a description of what it does: it cuts. The other pattern on our own shelf is the McIndoe bone cutting forceps, which our record has always spelled McIndoes with an s.

There is no attribute set either, so no jaw figure and no overall length appears here. The double action comes from our own older copy.

Key design features

Double action, and why nasal bone needs it

Two hinges compound the leverage, and the figure usually quoted for the arrangement is roughly double. The reason it matters on a nose is that the alternative is pushing harder on the handles, and a bone cutter being pushed hard in a confined space is an instrument whose cut is about to go somewhere nobody planned.

Spring handles

The handles open themselves, so the blades are apart and ready without the surgeon releasing and regripping. On a case that takes several cuts that is the difference between a heavy instrument and a slow one.

Blades made for bone

Heavier and blunter than anything in the nasal cutting family. They divide bone and thick cartilage, which also means they are the wrong instrument for mucosa and for anything delicate, and the table below says so rather than leaving it to be worked out.

Nothing plumbed into it

Steel, two hinges and a spring. No coating, no insert, no ratchet. Nothing to flush, nothing to dry and nothing on it that is not doing work.

What to order, and what we do not publish

One pattern, so this table is the specification and its gaps, including the awkward one.

Where it is used

Bone work in and around the nose.

What it holds back, and what it must not do

The strongest instrument in the category, so the warnings matter more than the features.

How it compares with the rest of the family

Two bone cutters and two instruments that get reached for instead.

Materials and finish

Every Cottle Kazanjian bone 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 two hinges still share the load after two hundred autoclave cycles, because a double action joint with one pivot tighter than the other cuts crooked long before it cuts badly, and the answer to that is in the making rather than in the alloy.

Both pivots are machined and fitted as a pair rather than drilled and pinned separately, so they carry the same share of the load. One slightly tighter pivot takes more of it, wears faster, and the blades gradually stop meeting square. That is how a bone cutter dies, and it starts at the hinges.

The blades are hardened and then ground, so the edge is hard through its section rather than on its surface. There is no sharp external edge anywhere on the outline.

Caring for it

Wash both joints open every time. Bone cutting makes debris rather than stains, and bone dust in a double action joint is felt on the next case.

Warm water and a soft brush. Autoclave with the tray. Close the blades empty and look along the edge against the light: they should meet along their whole length. A pair meeting at the tip only is crushing bone rather than cutting it, and that is the point to have it reground or retired.

Ordering and wholesale

Every Cottle Kazanjian bone 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 Cottle Kazanjian bone cutting forceps used for?

Cutting and dividing nasal bone, the bony part of a deviated septum, and cartilage too thick for a nasal cutting forceps. It is the double action bone cutter most often named by pattern on a rhinoplasty tray.

What is the difference between one hinge and two?

Leverage. A single action instrument gives the blades a fraction of what the hand gives the handles; a second hinge compounds that ratio and roughly doubles it. Google describes the dual pivot arrangement as vastly increasing mechanical advantage, and single action as suited to lower density bone.

Is this the Kazanjian retractor?

No. The Kazanjian name belongs to a well known retractor as well as to this bone cutting forceps, and our own search data shows that search reaching this site on page one. This product is the bone cutting forceps.

What is the item code?

There is not one. This is the only instrument in our published range with no catalog code on our own record, so the code is issued when you order. We would rather tell you that than print a number we made up, and giving it a permanent code is on our own list.

Cottle Kazanjian or McIndoes?

Both are double action bone cutters and both will do the work. This pattern is the one most trays specify by name. The McIndoes is the plainer cutter and a little cheaper. If a tray list names one of them, buy that one.

Related products and categories

The other double action bone cutter here is the McIndoes bone cutting forceps. For the cartilage once it is out, the Teflon cartilage cutting block to carve it on, or the solid stainless steel nasal mallet that drives the osteotome before this forceps is needed at all.

The rest of this family sits under nasal cutting, crusher and septum forceps, and the chisels and gouges that work on bone alongside it are under osteotomes, chisels and gouges.