Hemostatic Forceps

What This Collection Covers

• Kelly — 14cm and 18cm, straight and curved, including titanium
• Crile — 5 1/2" and 6 1/4", straight and curved, including titanium
• Halsted-Mosquito — the fine 12.5cm patterns, straight and curved, smooth and 1x2 teeth, plus micro and titanium versions
• Rochester-Pean — 13cm, 22–24cm and a 40.5cm long-reach pattern
• Rochester-Ochsner / Kocher — 1x2 teeth, straight and curved
• Pean — fine curved, 14cm and 16cm
• Hartmann and Micro-Hartmann — 10cm, the smallest in the range
• Heiss — 20cm, Fig. 1, 2 and 3, smooth and 1x2 teeth
• Spencer-Wells — straight and curved
• Overholt-Mixter — 21.5cm right-angle dissecting pattern
• Also stocked — Leriche, Lovelace, Moynihan, Pennington, Toennis and Tuffier patterns

Teeth or No Teeth — the Decision That Matters Most

Look at the jaw tips before you look at anything else. A 1x2 teeth pattern — Kocher, Rochester-Ochsner, the toothed Halsted-Mosquito — has interlocking teeth at the very end of the jaws. Those teeth bite through fascia and will not slip, which is exactly why they are used to grasp and hold tough tissue during closure.

They also crush. You do not put a toothed haemostat on a vessel you intend to repair, or on bowel, or anywhere the tissue has to survive intact.

Smooth-jawed patterns — Kelly, Crile, Pean, Spencer-Wells — hold by serration and pressure alone. They occlude a vessel without the tissue damage teeth cause, so they are the default for haemostasis proper. The trade-off is that they can slip on slick fascia where teeth would hold.

Kelly or Crile? The Difference Nobody Explains

These two are the most commonly confused instruments in surgery, and they look almost identical in a catalog photograph. The difference is in the serrations.

Crile jaws are serrated along their full length. Kelly jaws are serrated only on the distal half, with the proximal half smooth. That makes the Crile grip more evenly across the whole jaw, and the Kelly concentrate its hold near the tip.

In practice: reach for a Crile when you want a secure hold along the jaw on a larger vessel or a thicker bundle. Reach for a Kelly for a more precise, tip-led clamp. Most general trays carry both, in both curvatures, which is why they are stocked here in parallel.

How to Choose

Straight or curved. Curved jaws let you pass around behind a vessel and clamp it without lifting the instrument into your own line of sight — the usual choice at depth. Straight jaws come in flat on tissue at the surface and are easier to place accurately in a shallow field.

Length. 10–12.5cm for fine, superficial work and paediatrics; 14–16cm for general use; 18–24cm for pelvic and deep abdominal fields; the 40.5cm Rochester-Pean for the deepest reach, where the handles must stay well outside the wound.

Jaw fineness. A mosquito's jaws are much finer than a Kelly's. The rule is to match the jaw to the smallest vessel you routinely clamp — an over-large haemostat on a small vessel crushes surrounding tissue for no benefit.

Titanium. Substantially lighter and non-magnetic. It matters on an instrument an assistant holds for long stretches, and in fields where magnetic instruments are a problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a hemostat used for?
Clamping a blood vessel to stop bleeding, and holding it clamped without hand pressure thanks to the ratchet lock. They are also widely used as general graspers — holding tissue, passing suture, gripping small objects.

What is the difference between a Kelly and a Crile?
Serration length. Crile jaws are serrated along their full length; Kelly jaws only on the distal half. See the section above.

Are Kocher and Rochester-Ochsner the same instrument?
Yes — two names for the same toothed haemostat, and you will see both in supplier catalogs. The products here are titled with both names for exactly that reason.

What is a mosquito forceps?
The finest haemostat in the range, at around 12.5cm with very slender jaws. Named for its size. Used on small vessels and in fine dissection where a standard haemostat is too coarse.

Do you supply these individually or as sets?
Individually — every instrument here can be ordered on its own. For a full haemostat set or a theatre tray, send us your list and our team will quote it line by line, with bulk pricing for distributors and hospital procurement.

Related categories: surgical and vascular clamps, surgical forceps, needle holders, surgical scissors and bulldog clamps.