With 30 years of experience in surgery behind him, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr. S. J. B. Lenadora knows just how important a surgical retractor is – the surgical instrument that is made to help the surgeon by keeping other tissues away from the surgical field. Surgical retractors have come a long way since the [...]

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Going easy on those tissues with his friendly-retractor

part four of our series on the six nominees for ‘The Ray’ award
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With 30 years of experience in surgery behind him, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr. S. J. B. Lenadora knows just how important a surgical retractor is – the surgical instrument that is made to help the surgeon by keeping other tissues away from the surgical field.

Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr. S. J. B. Lenadora

Surgical retractors have come a long way since the days of the hand- held retractor, to self-retaining retractors which do not require much effort. “However, the stainless steel retractors used these days may at times result in further damage to the tissues, especially to patients undergoing prolonged surgeries,” explains Dr. Lenadora.

Therefore, Dr. Lenadora, one of The Ray award nominees, has come up with an ingenious solution to these shortcomings by inventing his own tissue friendly retractor – the Lenadora Pneumatic Self Retaining Abdominal Retractor!

“I realised that the mechanical force of the retractor; the force applied to separate the tissues, is not tissue –friendly. So, I decided to employ pneumatic force or air, like in shock absorbers, which results in kinder pressure being applied to tissues,” he explains.

Dr. Lenadora’s retractor uses air syringes (used for injections) to obtain air pressure as retractor pressure. This results in a compressed air pressure which is tissue friendly. In addition, the retractor, which is driven by pneumatic force, can be customized automatically as per the size of the surgical cut.

In the usual surgical retractors, the length, depth and width of the retractor cannot be adjusted as per the requirement and size of the patient. This results in the surgeon getting distracted as tissues which are not held back by the retractor keep popping up in the surgical field and additional doctors need to be called in to hold back tissues. Thus, the retractor at times proves to be inadequate and fails to serve the purpose.

However, the size of the retractor can now be controlled by the surgeon as per his or her requirement thanks to Dr. Lenadora’s invention.

The tissue pressure of the patient too varies as the anaesthesia begins to wear off. Therefore, due to variation in tissue pressure, when the tissues press against the hard surface of the usual stainless steel contractor, they get damaged.
However, the new retractor invented by Dr. Lenadora, simply collapses when tissues press against its surface. This not only reduces damage to the tissues, but also indicates that the patient is becoming aware and thus the anaesthetist can then top-up the anesthesia.

“I used to say to myself that I will not make any more changes, only go back to trying out more ways of improving it,” says Dr. Lenadora with a laugh.

After nearly four years of making and re-making the retractor, using it in surgeries and modifying it further, Dr. Lenadora is finally happy with his invention. Well, for the present at least!

Dr. Lenadora’s surgical retractor was selected as the Best Invention in Medicine in 2010 as well as winning the Presidential Award for Best Overall Invention. He also brought fame to Sri Lanka by winning a Gold Medal at the International Inventions Exhibition in Geneva in April 2011.

Giving a shock absorber effect to his retractor by using air syringes. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara

Dr. Lenadora is already designing and constructing in his mind a retractor that can also be used for liver transplants and heart bypass surgeries, as his retractor is currently used mainly in abdominal surgeries.

“I will be applying the same principle, namely, using a pneumatic tissue friendly retractor force in order to reduce damages that might occur during cardiac surgeries.”

At present, the retractor can be used for ovarian and gynaecological cancer and for bowel surgeries by gastro-entomologists. Further, the retractor has been successfully used and commended by kidney transplant surgeons. A video clip regarding this has been posted on Youtube too.

The success of the retractor is evident by the fact that the retractor can be used to perform more effective Aortic aneurysm surgeries. Aortic aneurysm is a localised swelling in a main blood vessel. However, as it is close to the spine and is deep, access is difficult during surgeries. This difficulty has been addressed with Dr. Lenadora’s retractor making it easier to access the particular area.

The Lenadora Pneumatic Self Retaining Abdominal Retractor which is made of bio compatible stainless steel (except for the disposable syringe) of the type Medical stainless steel 316L which is imported to Sri Lanka, can be sterilized and re-used.
“I would like to manufacture the retractor in Sri Lanka and introduce it to the international arena,” says Dr. Lenadora adding that the retractor has already been used in Peradeniya, Kandy, Kurunegala and Matale.

Dr. Lenadora, who has already obtained the patent for his inventions in Sri Lanka, has also applied for a patent from India and the European Community as well as from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Geneva.
“WIPO has checked and found out that there has not been any such invention in the past,” says Dr. Lenadora, adding that 13 out of the 14 claims he can lay claim to as the inventor have been approved so far.

“Thus, I have been given the green light to proceed with my application for the patent,” he explains.




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