Backlit surgical instrument support assembly

A surgical instrument support assembly for supporting surgical instruments, the assembly comprising:

• an enclosure including a plurality of sidewalls perimetrically bounding an interior volume and a base enclosing a bottom of said interior volume, said enclosure defining an opening adjacent to said interior volume;
• a light transmissive pane located at least partially across said opening and defining a support surface;
• light means located inside said interior volume of said enclosure for generating light to backlight said light transmissive pane, said light means being spaced from said light transmissive pane;
• and,
• a sterile surgical drape resting on, and disposed across, the support surface so as to define an exposed surface for supporting the surgical instruments, wherein light emanating from said light transmissive pane, when backlit, transmits through the surgical drape to provide backlighting to any supported surgical instruments.