Establishing the Maintenance Management System of Surgical Instruments for Laparoscopic Surgery -Improvements After Three Damages of Forceps During LAM -

At Yotsuya Medical Cube, during LAM, we have experienced three damages of forceps during surgery. All broken parts were successfully corrected immediately and no obvious invasion was observed during and after the surgery. However, such an interruption as damage of surgical instruments in a confined abdominal area always accompany risks like an extension of surgery and a possible shift to laparotomy. Moreover, interruptions during laparoscopic surgery give doctors a tremendous stress during procedure. In order to prevent such damage of surgical instruments, close attention of operating forceps as well as appropriate check and maintenance of all instruments for laparoscopic surgery are indispensable. At our hospital, we worked on establishing the maintenance management system of surgical instruments for laparoscopic surgery through cooperation with our clinical engineers. As a result, safer laparoscopic surgery has become possible, as no interruptions by damage of instruments has occurred and stress during procedures has been reduced. I think any medical facility requires to maintain quality control and establish its own management system of medical instruments. In this paper three cases of damage of forceps during LAM that we experienced will be reported and the maintenance management system of surgical instruments for laparoscopic surgery through cooperation with our clinical engineers will be introduced.