Nashville Surgical Instruments


The Kumar PRE-VIEW* Cholangiography

The Concept and the Napkin Sketch

Did you ever meet Dr. Hackensmith? He practiced surgery in the warmth of South Florida, many years ago. He was well known as the "biggest surgeon in town", based mainly on his size.

Well, I did meet him when he was "getting on up in years" and wanted to take in a young surgeon to join his practice. I was a young surgeon and I needed a job. We were quite a contrast. He was really big, and I happen to be so short that I have a tendency to lie about my height. He was kind and courteous. After a few stories about the good old days in the surgical lounge, he liked me enough to invite me to scrub in on a cholecystectomy.

He made a swift cut. Exposure was plenty and dissection was routine. He thought cannulation of the cystic duct was a "pain". This was in 1976 which is believed to be the pre-laparoscopy era for general surgeons. Little did I know that Dr. Hackensmith was ahead of his time by almost two decades. To me, cystic duct cannulation did not become a "pain" until 1991 when I tried it laparoscopically.

Immediately I remembered Dr. Hackensmith and his solution to the " pain" of cystic duct cannulation: a Kelly clamp across the gallbladder just above the Hartmann's pouch and dye injection in to the Hartmann's pouch with a 23 gauge butterfly needle:

---

*Patent & Trademark

Instructions

---