Cushing Tissue Forceps, Tungsten Carbide Jaws

What Cushing tissue forceps are

Cushing tissue forceps are a long slender grasping instrument built for depth. The shank reaches down a narrow opening without filling the surgeon’s view, the jaws carry tungsten carbide inserts, and there is no lock or ratchet anywhere on the instrument. 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 also list it simply as a cushing forceps, or as a cushing instrument, and orders arrive under all three names.

What makes this more than a long dressing forceps is what sits at the other end. Many Cushing patterns carry a semi sharp dissecting edge at the base of the handle, so one instrument both holds tissue and separates a plane. Most cushing forceps uses in a real case alternate between those two jobs.

Why the shank matters more than the jaw

This is the part worth understanding before ordering, because it decides which build you want.

At the bottom of a cranial or spinal opening the problem is not grip. It is line of sight. A straight instrument held in a straight hand puts the hand, the shank and the surgeon’s own knuckles between the eye and the target.

A bayonet shank steps sideways and then forward again, so the working tips sit on the original axis while everything behind them is offset. Nothing is added to the jaw. The view is simply given back.

• Two shank patterns. Straight for direct access, bayonet for a blocked view.
• Two jaws. 1×2 teeth for dense tissue, serrated for delicate.
• Tungsten carbide faces. The grip outlasts a plain steel jaw.
• 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 and the shank are specified on the order rather than carried as separate item codes, so tell us which pair you want.

Where these are used

Cushing tissue forceps go where the opening is small and the target is a long way down it.

The pattern travels past neurosurgery for one reason. Depth with a narrow entrance is a problem in a lot of specialties, and a long slender instrument with a carbide grip answers it the same way every time.

What you are holding, and what to ask for

Two decisions on this page, the jaw and the shank.

Ordering one pair? Take the straight shank with a serrated jaw. It is the pair that gets picked up most and it will not damage anything by accident. Ordering two? Make the second a bayonet with 1×2 teeth, and between them a cranial tray is covered.

How it compares with the neighbours

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

Two things cushing tissue forceps will not do. They will not replace a debakey vascular forceps on a vessel, because even a serrated Cushing jaw grips harder than an atraumatic serration row. And they are wrong for surface skin closure, where the length works against you and an adson forceps is the right instrument.

Materials and finish

Every pair of cushing tissue 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 long instrument the alignment decides the working life. A shank this slender can be sprung by being dropped or by having something laid across it, and a pair that is out of line meets at one corner of the jaw instead of across it. Look along the closed jaws against a bright light 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, 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, because a long slender shank stored loose in a drawer is the commonest way this pattern is ruined. Retire any pair whose jaws no longer meet along their whole length.

Ordering and wholesale

Cushing tissue forceps are supplied by Adas Instruments to hospitals, surgical distributors and OEM buyers, in single units and in bulk. The item code is AC-13.27 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, the shank pattern 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 tissue forceps used for?

Holding and moving tissue down a narrow opening, in neurosurgery first and in plastic and general surgery after that. The pattern is long and slender for exactly that reason: it reaches a field your hand cannot get near, and it holds what is down there without the shank filling the view.

What is the scraper end on a Cushing forceps for?

Separating tissue planes without swapping instruments. Many Cushing patterns carry a semi sharp dissecting edge at the base of the handle, so the same instrument that holds tissue can also lift a plane apart. It is the detail that separates a Cushing from a plain dressing forceps of the same length.

What does tungsten carbide add to a Cushing forceps?

Grip that lasts. The carbide inserts are harder than the surrounding steel, so the working faces keep their bite where a plain steel jaw slowly polishes smooth. On a pattern used every day the difference shows as tissue that stops slipping halfway through a case.

What are cushing forceps with teeth, and when do I want them?

A 1×2 rat tooth jaw, one tooth dropping between two. Take teeth when the tissue is dense or slippery and must not slide. Take the serrated jaw for anything delicate, for conjunctiva, dura or a dressing, where a tooth would go through instead of holding. Tell us which on the order.

Are Cushing tissue forceps straight or bayonet?

Both patterns exist and they solve different problems. A straight shank is the direct line instrument. A bayonet shank steps sideways so the surgeon’s hand and the shank sit out of the line of sight down a cranial or spinal opening. Say which you need and we build it.

Related products and categories

Buyers usually compare cushing tissue forceps against the dressing thumb forceps, which is the plain long pattern without the carbide or the dissecting end. The pattern sits in dressing and tissue forceps, and it is also listed under micro surgery instruments.