Trocar

A trocar is a medical or veterinary device that is made up of an awl, a cannula, and a seal. Trocars are placed through the abdomen during laparoscopic surgery. Trocar insertion can lead to a perforating puncture wound of an underlying organ resulting in a medical complication.

About Trocar in brief

Summary TrocarA trocar is a medical or veterinary device that is made up of an awl, a cannula, and a seal. Trocars are placed through the abdomen during laparoscopic surgery. The word trocar, less commonly trochar, comes from French trois-quarts, from trois ‘three’ and carre’side, face of an instrument’ Originally, doctors used trocars to relieve pressure build-up of fluids or gases. Patents for trocars appeared early in the 19th century, although their use dated back possibly thousands of years.

Today, surgical trocars are most commonly a single patient use instrument and have graduated from the “three-point” design that gave them their name to either a flat bladed “dilating-tip” product or something that is entirely blade free. This latter design offers greater patient safety due to the technique used to insert them. Trocar insertion can lead to a perforating puncture wound of an underlying organ resulting in a medical complication.