"New" microvascular clamps for thoracic surgery in the rat

The development of "new" microvascular clamps for lung transplantation in the rat was necessary because the generally used microclamps were found to be not feasible in preliminary experiments. A mosquito clamp modified in a Satinsky-like manner made lung transplantation in the rat possible. However, most suitable was the smallest Blalock pulmonary clamp with some modifications. This clamp has been used in over 500 left lung transplantations in the rat now, and is no longer subject to further innovations. This report shows that relatively large instruments can be appropriate microvascular clamps.