A simple home-made self-retaining retractor for thyroidectomy.

Can J Surg, Vol. 52, No. 6, December 2009 523 S urgical assistance is imperative for the smooth conduct of various types of surgery that require steady retraction throughout the procedure. However, prolonged surgery will cause fatigue among the assistant surgeons who might not be able to sustain the optimal retraction for the chief surgeon. To overcome this problem, different types of self-retaining devices have been developed for continuous exposure during surgery. Thyroidectomy is a frequently performed operation requiring stable exposure to carry out the meticulous dissection and avoid inadvertent damage to the delicate structures around the thyroid gland. To our knowledge, no selfretaining retractor designed for thyroidectomy has been described in the literature. We describe a simple and cheap self-retaining retractor that is, from our experience, a very effective instrument for thyroid surgery.