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A rongeur is heavy-duty
surgical instrument A surgical instrument is a medical device for performing specific actions or carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue, or to provide access for viewing it. Over time, many different kinds of ...
with a sharp-edged, scoop-shaped tip, used for gouging out
bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...
. Rongeur is a French word meaning rodent or 'gnawer'. A rongeur can be used to open a window in bone, often in the skull, in order to access tissue underneath. They are used in
neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system ...
, podiatric surgery,
maxillofacial surgery Oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) is a surgical specialty focusing on reconstructive surgery of the face, facial trauma surgery, the mouth, head and neck, and jaws, as well as facial plastic surgery including cleft lip and cleft palate ...
, and
orthopedic surgery Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
to expose areas for operation. Vertosick, Frank Jr. ''When the Air Hits Your Brain.'' New York: Fawcett Books 1996. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 96-91010 A rongeur is used in oral maxillofacial surgery to remove bony fragments or soft tissue. It is also used in hand surgery to cut traumatic amputated bone to allow skin to be closed over the defect. A rongeur can also be used in cadaver dissection lab to break through ribs when removing the anterior chest wall. A common example of a surgical rongeur is the Kerrison rongeur, in which its first design was created by Dr. Robert Masters Kerrison (1776–1847), an English physician, but it took more than 100 years before the Kerrison rongeur was modified and took its current form.


See also

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Instruments used in general surgery There are many different Surgery, surgical specialties, some of which require specific kinds of Surgical instrument, surgical instruments to perform. General surgery is a specialty focused on the abdomen; the Thyroid, thyroid gland; Disease, dis ...


References

Surgical instruments {{medical-equipment-stub