Surgical/Dissection Instructions Defined

In addition to precise terminology relating to anatomical position (reviewed in the in the previous page), directions about what action you or a colleague needs to perform are equally as precise.  Here we summarize a few of the basic direction terms:

Reflect - To bend a structure away from a cut surface out of the way.

Resect - To cut out all or part of the structure.

Retract - Moving a structure to the side without damaging it (using fingers or various retractors such as the Army-Navy retractor or the Doyen retractor).

Spread/Tunnel - A process of pushing closed scissors into a fascial plane or structure and spreading the scissors open which separates the tissue forming a 'tunnel'.

Transect - Cut through the structure.

Blunt Dissect - to separate structures with a non-sharp probe or fingers.

Clean - to remove fascia or other debris to enhance the view of the structure.

Excise - Removal of a structure by cutting.

Ligate - Tie a string or thread or loop around the structure clinically used to close off cut vascular ends.

Mobilize - Separate a structure from attaching fascia so it can be retracted or otherwise moved.

Undermine - To spread/separate a more superficial structure from a deeper structure to work your way below the superficial structure with minimal damage to it.