Cushing Bayonet Forceps, Tungsten Carbide Jaws, 19 cm

What Cushing bayonet forceps are

Cushing bayonet forceps are a 19 cm non locking grasping instrument built around one shape. The shank steps out to one side, runs forward, and brings the tips back onto the original axis, so everything behind the jaw is offset from the line you are looking down. The working faces carry tungsten carbide inserts. They are made by Adas Instruments, reusable and fully autoclavable.

The pattern carries the name of Harvey Cushing, who worked out much of modern neurosurgery, and it is still a neurosurgical instrument first. Catalogs list it as cushing bayonet dressing forceps, as cushing bayonet tissue forceps and as a cushing cranial bayonet forceps, and orders arrive under all of them.

It is worth being clear what the offset does not do. It adds no grip, no reach and no mechanical advantage. The jaw is an ordinary thumb forceps jaw. The only thing the shape buys is sight, and on a deep field that is the thing in shortest supply.

Why the shank decides this instrument, not the jaw

Understand this part and the rest of the page is just a jaw choice.

At the bottom of a cranial opening or a spinal corridor the problem is rarely holding the tissue. It is seeing it. A straight instrument held in a straight hand puts the hand, the shank and the surgeon’s own knuckles directly between the eye and the target, and no amount of light fixes that geometry.

A bayonet shank moves the obstruction sideways. The tips stay where they were, the hand does not, and the channel you are working down stays open to the eye and to the light. That is the entire design.

• Offset shank. The view is given back, nothing is added to the jaw.
• Two jaws. Cross serrated for delicate tissue, 1×2 teeth for dense.
• Tungsten carbide faces. The grip outlasts plain steel.
• No lock. A pure thumb forceps, pressure under finger control.

Jaw, and what it is for

The jaw is the choice that changes what the instrument can safely touch.

Nothing is listed there that we do not build. The jaw is specified on the order rather than carried as a separate item code, so tell us which one you want.

Where these are used

Cushing bayonet forceps go where the opening is narrow, the target is deep, and the surgeon has to see what the tips are doing.

The pattern travels well past neurosurgery for one reason. Looking down the same narrow channel your instrument is occupying is a problem in several specialties, and an offset shank answers it the same way every time.

What you are holding, and what to ask for

One decision on this page, and the table makes it for you.

Ordering one pair? Take the cross serrated jaw. It is the pair that gets picked up most on a cranial tray and it will not perforate anything by accident. Ordering two? Make the second a 1×2 tooth jaw, and between them dura, mucosa, packing and dense deep tissue are all covered.

How it compares with the neighbours

These are the instruments buyers weigh against each other before the order goes in.

Two things cushing bayonet forceps will not do. They will not coagulate: that is a bipolar instrument’s job, and a bayonet bipolar forceps is insulated and wired for it where this one is not. And if the line of sight down your field is already clear, the offset earns nothing and a cushing tissue forceps on a straight shank is the cheaper instrument.

Materials and finish

Every pair of cushing bayonet forceps is made in high quality medical grade stainless steel with tungsten carbide inserts brazed into the working faces. The steel itself is made to a German specification. Every pair is passivated and boil tested before packing, and the finish is satin rather than mirror so there is no glare down a lit opening.

On a bayonet pattern the offset is what has to be checked. The two steps must be symmetrical or the tips will not meet square, and a shank that has been sprung by a drop or by something laid across it will close at one corner of the jaw. Hold the closed instrument up to a bright light and look along the jaw line before each list.

Care and sterilization

Rinse in cool water straight after use so nothing dries in the serrations or behind the carbide inserts. Clean with a neutral pH enzymatic detergent and an ultrasonic bath, paying attention to the inside of both offsets where debris collects, rinse in deionized water, dry fully, then steam autoclave at 134 degrees Celsius.

Do not run a wire brush over the carbide faces. Store the instrument tip protected and flat, never loose in a drawer where the offset can be bent. Retire any pair whose jaws no longer meet along their whole length.

Ordering and wholesale

Cushing bayonet forceps are supplied by Adas Instruments to hospitals, surgical distributors and OEM buyers, in single units and in bulk. The item code is AC-91.20 and it is printed in the jaw table above so a procurement search finds it. Backorder items dispatch in 10 to 12 working days, and every instrument carries a three year replacement against manufacturing defects.

For wholesale and OEM orders, instruments ship unpackaged in bulk or individually poly bagged, and laser marking with a distributor code or a hospital asset number is available on the shank. Tell us the jaw and the quantity, and the quotation comes back with the lead time for that run.

Production is controlled under an ISO 13485 quality management system.

Frequently asked questions

What are Cushing bayonet forceps used for?

Holding tissue at the bottom of a deep narrow opening, in neurosurgery and spine surgery first, then in sinus and nasal work. The offset shank is the whole point: the tips sit on the line you are working down while the hand and the body of the instrument step sideways out of your view.

What are Cushing bayonet dressing forceps used for?

The same instrument doing the packing job. A bayonet shank reaches down a nasal or cranial opening to place, position and withdraw packing material without the hand blocking the light, which is why the pattern is catalogued as a dressing forceps as often as a tissue forceps.

What is a bayonet forceps used for, and how is the shape different?

A bayonet shank steps out to one side and then runs forward again, so the working tips return to the original axis with everything behind them offset. Nothing is added to the jaw and no extra grip is gained. What you get back is the view, which is why the shape exists wherever the surgeon has to look down the same narrow channel the instrument is occupying.

What is the function of the tungsten carbide jaws?

Grip that outlasts plain steel. Carbide inserts are brazed into the working faces and they are harder than the surrounding steel, so the faces keep their bite where a plain jaw slowly polishes smooth. On a deep field instrument that matters more than usual, because tissue slipping at 19 cm from your hand cannot be corrected by feel.

Is the jaw serrated or toothed, and which should I order?

We build both and the choice follows the tissue. Cross serrations for dura, mucosa and packing material, where a tooth makes a hole. A 1×2 tooth jaw for dense or slippery tissue that has to be pulled rather than stroked. Say which on the order and we build that jaw.

Related products and categories

Buyers usually compare cushing bayonet forceps against the dressing thumb forceps, which is the plain straight pattern without the offset or the carbide. The pattern sits in dressing and tissue forceps, and it is also listed under breast surgery instruments.