Laparoscopic needle introducer.
The laparoscopic needle introducer is a new instrument designed to introduce into the peritoneal cavity and withdraw from it curved needles of various sizes, using a 5-mm cannula path. The instrument also can be used when suturing to pull the two ends of the suture through the cannula, allowing extracorporeal tying. It was tested on inanimate models using a laparoscopy trainer. Subsequently it was used successfully in different laparoscopic operations on 15 patients.