Author's response: Reply from Professor A. G. Johnson

✍ Scribed by A. G. Johnson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 166 KB
• Volume: 72
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0007-1323
• DOI: 10.1002/bjs.1800720436

✦ Synopsis

Sir

I am delighted that my small note has provoked correspondence on matters of instruments and technique. I feel that it is still important to discuss the craft of surgery in surgical journals.

I am grateful to Mr Mahaffey for pointing out details of the 'Beaver' handle. In fact a fairly large scalpel is required for dividing the rectum during anterior resection and the blade needs to be large enough to cut through a thick rectal wall.

The burden of my note was not so much the details of the actual instrument but the importance of using the appropriate instrument for the right procedure, as so many surgeons struggle with standard instruments when a slight modification is all that is required to make the procedure easy.