FORT DETRICK, Md. – A new surgical instrument being developed with support from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command was inspired by a tool commonly used by first responders to help free accident victims trapped in their cars.
The Delta Hook™, invented by Dr. Alexander Villahermosa, an Army neurosurgery resident at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is a handheld cutting tool that will make it easier for doctors to slice open the thin membrane lining the brain, called the dura, when performing neurosurgery. Villahermosa says the design was based on the rescue hooks that he and other Army medics carried with them on operations.