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Surgical Tool Failure Analyses

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Abstract

The tools used during surgical procedures are an important component to clinical success. Innovative surgical tool designs have enabled more intricate and less-invasive procedures resulting in advanced procedures, reduced patient pain, and recovery time. Examples of surgical tools include drills, catheters, needles, cannulas, scissors, and so on. These tools are often subjected to corrosive environments, high stresses, high loading frequencies, sterilization, and/or cleaning procedures. Given the extreme use conditions to which surgical tools can be exposed, and the potential for misuse, these devices can and do fail. These failures often occur during a surgical procedure and therefore can compromise clinical success. Understanding how and why failures occur is an important first step to prevent their occurrence. Accordingly, this paper provides selected surgical tool failure case studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exponent, Failure Analysis Associates Inc., Atlanta, GA, USA

    Eric P. Guyer

  2. Exponent, Failure Analysis Associates Inc., Menlo Park, CA, USA

    Brad A. James

Authors
  1. Eric P. Guyer
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  2. Brad A. James
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric P. Guyer.

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Guyer, E.P., James, B.A. Surgical Tool Failure Analyses. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 14, 3–9 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-013-9763-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-013-9763-5

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