New autostatic surgical retractor in head and neck surgery.

dequate exposure of the operative field is important in ll operations, and head and neck surgery encompasses everal techniques including microscopic, endoscopic, and pen operations. Conventional self-retaining stainless steel etractors can both hinder a complete view and obstruct the lacement of other instruments. These devices often require djustment, their prongs are sharp, and they keep tissues in raction by increasing the stretch and injury to the wound.1 he ReeTrakt (Insightra Inc. – Irvine, CA, USA) is a new isposable retractor that was first used in the treatment of an rteriovenous fistula. The retractor used had an ergonomic ook made of polycarbonate, the tip of which was too large o be used in head and neck surgery.2 The ReeTrakt device that we tested consisted of a flexible ticky pad bonded to a thin retraction strap that passed through he bottom of an ergonomic hook, which came in a number f different designs. The stainless steel hook is engaged at he edge of the wound parallel to the subcutaneous layer. The dhesive base can easily be applied to the skin or to the surical drapes once the protective backing has been removed. he strap is tightened until the desired tension is achieved; t this point the strap and the base are fixed together with elcro® (Fig. 1). We generally place the hooks symmetrially on the opposite sides of the wound; once applied, the ssistant adjusts the retractor to obtain the desired tension sing only one hand. This work was approved by our hospital’s ethics com-