Surgical retractor

An openable surgical retractor, for use with operation wounds or surgical incisions in the region of a patient's spine, said retractor comprising two retractor halves pivotally interconnected by hinge means defining a hinge axis, wherein each retractor half comprises an upper hinge part which merges at the bottom thereof, on a side remote from said hinge means, with a downwardly-extending shaft member at a radial distance from the hinge axis or its extension, a wound widening and restraining part which projects laterally from a lower part of the shaft member in a direction away from said hinge axis and which is intended for engagement with muscle tissue on one side of the operation wound;

• each restraining part carrying at least one upwardly directed support element which functions as a tissue edge support to hold to one side skin layers and fascia in the region above an upper edge of said restraining part, each said supporting element having at its lower part at least one attachment part adapted to be placed over the restraining part from above so as to straddle said restraining part, thereby enabling the support element to be detachably fitted to the restraining part, and a latching means intended to be fitted on to the retractor in a region of the hinge means formed by the upper hinge parts of said two retractor halves, in a manner to lock said halves in an outwardly angled functional position for sideways restraining engagement with muscle tissue.

An openable surgical retractor, for use with operation wounds or surgical incisions in the region of a patient's spine, said retractor comprising two retractor halves pivotally interconnected by hinge means defining a hinge axis, wherein each retractor half comprises an upper hinge part which merges at the bottom thereof, on a side remote from said hinge means, with a downwardly-extending shaft member at a radial distance from the hinge axis or its extension, a wound widening and restraining part which projects laterally from a lower part of the shaft member in a direction away from said hinge axis and which is intended for engagement with muscle tissue on one side of the operation wound;

• a latching means intended to be fitted on to the retractor in a region of the hinge means formed by the upper hinge parts of said two retractor halves, in a manner to lock said halves in an outwardly angled functional position for sideways restraining engagement with muscle tissue, said latching means comprising a disc element having a pair of mutually converging side edges, at least one of said side edges including a series of arcuate recesses or notches;
• each of the retractor halves having on the inside of its upper hinge part an outwardly widened projection;
• and said disc element adapted to be inserted down between each projection to a latching position in which the disc element is fixed wedgingly between the projections, with one of the arcuate recesses or notches in engagement with the contacting projection.