Knife and retractor system

A soft tissue retractor, comprising:

• a handle portion;
• a pivoting mechanism including a pivot bar attached to the handle;
• and
• a frame with first and second retractor plates,
• wherein at least one of the first and second retractor plates includes a knife slot, and
• wherein the first retractor plate is pivotably coupled to a first portion of the pivot bar and the second retractor plate is pivotably coupled to a second portion of the pivot bar such that rotation of the handle in a first direction translates the first and second retractor plates toward each other and rotation of the handle in a second direction that opposes the first direction translates the first and second retractor plates away from each other.

A method, comprising:

• providing a kit including:
• a surgical knife, comprising:
• a handle portion;
• a beam portion extending from the handle portion;
• and
• a nose portion defining a free end and including at least one blade support portion and a cutting blade coupled to the blade support portion, the cutting blade including a working depth determined by the depth of a portion of the blade that protrudes past a bottom surface of the blade support portion in a cutting state, and a soft tissue retractor, comprising:
• a frame with first and second retractor plates, at least one of the first and second retractor plates including a knife slot,
• wherein the first and second retractor plates are pivotably coupled to each other such that they are translatable toward each other into a collapsed state and translatable away from each other into an expanded state.