An award-winning surgeon in Wales has invented a surgical instrument designed to improve patient safety during breast reconstruction.
Muhammad Umair Javed, a consultant plastic and reconstructive breast surgeon based in the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, created the microsurgery dissector – it is currently in its prototype stage.
The dissector has smooth, blunted edges, allowing surgeons to separate or dissect blood vessels without the risk of accidentally cutting them.
Mr Javed said: ‘When we dissect the vessels we use microsurgery instruments. They are very fine instruments for very fine work. The microsurgery instruments used globally are generally forceps and scissors. But if you use scissors to separate the blood vessels, which are stuck to each other by connective tissue, there is always a risk you can accidentally damage the vessel. You have to be very gentle. However, we do not have a blunt microsurgery instrument to do this work. We have to use blunt instruments that are very large and not meant for microsurgery.’
Having identified this gap, his solution was to design a blunt dissector small enough to be used during microsurgery.
The design is registered with the Intellectual Property Office.
He said: ‘We haven’t started using it yet. I made three prototypes. I might test one of them in the microsurgery lab. The next step will be to make it available in our department, in our microsurgical sets. If anyone else wants to use it, they can as well.’
He has received several national and international awards and prizes, as well as fellowships from world-renowned plastic surgery centres in London, Vancouver, and Adelaide.
The microsurgery blunt dissector is not his first venture into inventing. He previously developed an abdominal retractor specifically designed for use in breast reconstruction, which provides surgeons with a clearer view of their work.
