DeBakey Vascular Forceps, 1 mm to 3.2 mm Tips, Straight or Curved

What DeBakey vascular forceps are

Debakey vascular forceps are the atraumatic pattern: a long slender tissue forceps whose jaws carry rows of fine shallow serrations in place of teeth. There is no lock and no ratchet on them, the grip is finger pressure alone, and the tips are ground from 1 mm to 3.2 mm across. They are made by Adas Instruments, reusable and fully autoclavable.

The pattern carries the name of Michael DeBakey, the cardiac surgeon who specified it, and the name has stuck to the jaw rather than to any one maker. Catalogs list the same instrument as debakey tissue forceps, and American operating rooms usually call them debakey pickups. Orders arrive under all three.

What defines the pattern besides the jaw is the shank: long, slender, with a coarsely ribbed thumb panel so the instrument can be held firmly through a wet glove without squeezing the jaws shut. Most debakey forceps uses come down to that combination, a wide gentle jaw on a shank you can control precisely.

How the atraumatic jaw works

This is the part worth understanding, because it is the whole reason the pattern exists.

A toothed forceps stops tissue sliding by putting a point through it. On skin that is correct, and the two small holes it leaves sit inside a wound that is about to be closed. On an artery the same hole is a leak, and on a lung it is an air leak.

A DeBakey jaw does the opposite. Several rows of shallow serrations interlock when the jaws close, and the tissue is gripped by friction along the whole face. Pressure per square millimetre drops sharply, which is what people mean by the bed of nails comparison: the same total force spread over many contact points does not break the surface.

• No teeth anywhere. Nothing on the instrument can pierce a vessel wall.
• Grip by friction. Across the whole serrated face, not at a point.
• Five tip widths. 1 mm through 3.2 mm, so the face matches the tissue.
• Ribbed shank panel. Firm control through a glove without over closing.

Builds we ship

Five tip widths across three lengths, each straight or curved.

Nothing is listed there that we do not hold. The tip width, the length and the tip angle are specified on the order rather than carried as separate item codes.

Where these are used

Buyers reach debakey vascular forceps from cardiac and vascular surgery, and those two are still where most of them go.

The pattern travels further than its name suggests. Any tissue that will be held for a long time and then has to work afterwards has the same problem, so the atraumatic tissue forceps jaw turns up in general surgery, in transplant work and under a microscope.

What you are holding, and the tip to ask for

The tip width is the only real decision on this page.

Ordering one pair? Take 2 mm in 19 cm, straight. It is the pair that gets picked up most and it works in both directions. Ordering two? Make the second 1.5 mm curved, and between them a vascular tray is covered.

How it compares with the neighbours

These are the instruments buyers weigh against each other, and the comparison people search for most is against the Adson.

Two things debakey vascular forceps will not do. They will not hold skin reliably during closure, because friction alone lets a dry skin edge slide where a tooth would not, and that is what an adson forceps is for. And they will not hold a needle: the serrations are shallow by design and a needle rolls in them.

Materials and finish

Every pair of debakey vascular forceps is made in high quality medical grade stainless steel. 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 the tips stay readable against wet tissue.

On this pattern the serrations decide the working life. They are cut and then mated by hand, because rows that do not interlock cleanly grip at two or three points instead of across the face, and a jaw doing that has stopped being atraumatic while still looking correct. Check the closed jaws against a light before each list.

Care and sterilization

Rinse in cool water straight after use, before blood dries between the serration rows. That is the one maintenance point that matters on a DeBakey: dried protein in the rows changes how the faces meet.

Clean with a neutral pH enzymatic detergent and an ultrasonic bath, rinse in deionized water, dry fully, then steam autoclave at 134 degrees Celsius. Never run a wire brush along the jaw faces. Store tip protected, and retire any pair whose rows no longer interlock along their full length.

Ordering and wholesale

DeBakey vascular forceps are supplied by Adas Instruments to hospitals, surgical distributors and OEM buyers, in single units and in bulk. The item code is AC-110.15 and it is printed in the build 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 tip width, the length, the tip angle 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 DeBakey forceps used for?

Holding an artery, a vein or soft tissue that must not be damaged by being held. They are the standard grasping forceps in cardiovascular, thoracic and vascular surgery, and they travel well outside those fields for the same reason: anything you have to hold for a long time, and hand back intact, is safer in a DeBakey.

What is another name for DeBakey forceps?

Atraumatic tissue forceps, and in the United States often just DeBakey pickups. Catalogs also list them as debakey tissue forceps and as vascular forceps. All four describe the same jaw: rows of fine shallow serrations instead of teeth. The name changes with the buyer, not with the instrument.

What is the difference between DeBakey forceps and Adson forceps?

The jaw, and what it is for. An Adson has one or two teeth that pierce tissue to stop it sliding, which is right for skin. A DeBakey has no teeth at all, so it holds by friction across a wide serrated face and leaves no puncture. Put an Adson on a vessel wall and you make a hole in it.

Which tip width should I order?

1 mm and 1.5 mm for small vessels and microvascular work. 2 mm for general vascular and soft tissue, and it is the width most surgeons keep on the tray. 2.7 mm and 3.2 mm for bowel, lung and anything with bulk to it. Buying one pair, take 2 mm in 19 cm.

Do DeBakey forceps have teeth?

No, and that is the whole point of the pattern. The tips carry several rows of fine shallow serrations that interlock, so pressure spreads across the face like a bed of nails rather than landing on one point. A toothed forceps grips harder and leaves a hole doing it.

Related products and categories

Buyers usually compare debakey vascular forceps against the adson brown forceps, which spreads load with many fine teeth rather than with serrations, and the micro adson forceps for fine tissue away from vessels. The pattern sits in dressing and tissue forceps, and it is also listed under micro surgery instruments.