Tracheal Retractor, Sharp or Blunt Prongs

What the tracheal retractor is

The tracheal retractor is a handheld pronged retractor used during tracheostomy and thyroid surgery. It holds back skin, strap muscles and pretracheal fascia so the front wall of the trachea can be seen and opened.

This is the plain pattern. The trachea family is full of surnames, and we publish most of them, but this page is the one that is not named after anybody. If your set specifies a Lukens or a Bose or a News, order that. If it just says tracheal retractor, this is it.

Our own record offers the prongs sharp or blunt, and on this instrument that choice is not a matter of taste. There is a cartilage tube and two carotid sheaths within a few millimeters of the prong tips.

Key design features of this trachea retractor

Three features, and the first one is the only ordering decision on the page.

• Sharp or blunt prongs. From our own Tip options attribute. Sharp holds tough fascia and a thick neck without creeping. Blunt holds without piercing, which is what you want when the prongs are sitting next to an airway.
• A handheld shaft. Nothing locks. An assistant holds it and can change the angle the moment the surgeon asks, which matters in an airway that is being opened.
• Satin finish. A neck wound in a tracheostomy is narrow and deep and the light comes in almost straight down. A polished shaft would reflect it back out.

Tracheostomy retractor sizes and prong options

Two rows of this table are ours, and the last two say plainly that they are not.

Our record carries the prong tip and no dimensions at all. Published figures for this class put the overall length somewhere between 145 mm and 175 mm and the named variants publish one, two and three prong versions. Neither is repeated here as ours.

Tracheal retractor uses, by procedure

Two operations account for most of it and both of them are in the neck.

What the prongs hold, and what they protect

The protecting column on this instrument is indirect, and it is worth being exact about why.

A tracheal retractor does not shield the recurrent laryngeal nerve the way a malleable blade shields bowel. It protects it by holding the field open and still, so the nerve stays visible and nobody works blind near it. That is a real protection and it is a different kind from a blade.

How this pattern compares with the named trachea retractors

Three of the seven rows are our own pages, and the last row is not a retractor at all.

Materials and finish

Made from high quality medical grade stainless steel, satin finished so the light does not come back out of a narrow neck wound. The steel itself is made to a German specification. The prongs are ground and polished as a set, and on the sharp version the points are finished so they penetrate cleanly rather than tearing.

Care and sterilization

Clean with a soft brush under running water, working between the prongs and around their base. Rinse in deionized water and dry fully before autoclaving. Store on a rack or under a tip guard. Check the prong tips before every case: a blunted sharp prong slips, and a burred blunt prong is no longer blunt, and in this field both of those matter.

Ordering and wholesale

Adas Instruments makes the tracheal retractor to order and supplies hospitals, surgical centers and distributors across the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia. State whether you want sharp or blunt prongs. Bulk and wholesale pricing is available, and instruments held on backorder ship in 10 to 12 working days. Every instrument carries a three year replacement warranty against manufacturing defects. Certifications: CE. Production is controlled under an ISO 13485 quality management system.

Frequently asked questions

What is a tracheal retractor used for?

Holding skin, strap muscles and pretracheal fascia back during tracheostomy and thyroid surgery so the anterior wall of the trachea can be seen and opened. It is used in ENT, head and neck, thyroid and general surgery.

How is a tracheal retractor used in tracheostomy?

After the skin incision, the layers over the airway are separated and this instrument holds them apart while the surgeon works down to the tracheal rings. It stays in the wound, held by an assistant, until the airway is open and the tube is in. A dilator, not a retractor, is what opens the tracheal incision itself.

Should the prongs be sharp or blunt?

Blunt is the usual choice in this field, because the prongs are working within millimeters of the airway and the great vessels of the neck. Sharp is for a thick neck or tough fascia where a blunt prong will creep out of the tissue. Both are carried on our own record.

Is a tracheal retractor the same as a tracheal hook?

No. A hook has a single curved point and it is used to lift and steady a tracheal ring or the cricoid. A retractor has prongs or a blade and it holds a whole layer of tissue back. They are used in the same operation, often within a minute of each other, and they are not substitutes.

Is this a Jackson, a Lukens or a Bose?

None of them. This is the plain pattern. We publish the named ones as separate products, and the comparison table above links to the ones we carry, because ordering a Bose when the set specified a Lukens is a mistake nobody notices until the tray is open.

Related products and categories

Buyers who order the tracheal retractor usually look next at the iterson tracheal hook retractor, the lukens trachea retractor and the jackson retractor. The whole family sits in hooks and retractors, and this pattern is also listed under ENT instruments.