Minimal Access Tendon Harvesting without a Harvester: A Cheap and Effective Alternative Technique Using a Plastic...

Tendon grafting is a key component of hand reconstructive procedures. Commercially produced tendon harvesters facilitate this grafting process but are not always available. We present an innovative technique that allows tendon harvest to be undertaken using equipment readily available in all hospitals. Only a scalpel blade and a plastic Yankauer suction tip are required. Two simple and rapid modifications are made to the suction tip using the blade prior to its use. The described tool has been conceived, refined and used successfully by the authors, without complications, and allows tendon harvest via the standard minimally invasive approach associated with a conventional harvester. Creating this improvised harvester is neither challenging nor time-consuming, and this cheap and effective substitute allows tendon grafts to be harvested using a minimal access approach in environments where a traditional harvester is not available, or not sterile.