Novel Optical Foreceps

Randa Al Barazi, MD, and her team have developed a novel optical forceps designed to extract particularly challenging foreign bodies from the airway. This device has been designed to be compatible with commercially available bronchoscopes and scopes and Dr. Barazi believes it requires less expertise to operate the device compared to alternate and commercially available basket devices.

These forceps utilize a parallelogram mechanism connected to each jaw, enabling the parallel closed position of the forceps’ jaws. Each jaw includes two sets of teeth to better secure the foreign body, particularly those rounded with smooth surfaces, during extraction. The inventor believes the risk is reduced to almost zero with increased efficacy of the procedure as the physician can retrieve the foreign body in one attempt, decreasing morbidity from several attempts and decreasing the length of procedure and anesthesia time. Overall, this mechanism and design allow total grasp of foreign bodies with significantly less risk of slipping complications.

The inventor believes this device will provide significant cost savings by reducing the number of expensive and highly invasive procedures resulting from the slipping of foreign bodies by commercially available optical forceps. Further, the device may be operated with a single healthcare provider, reduce the total cost of care compared to procedures that use basket devices.  As a result, this device is claimed to provide an easier, cheaper, and safer retrieval solution of foreign bodies within the airway and esophagus and may be able to replace current optical forceps.

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