Reverdin needle
A straight or slightly curved needle with an eye near the tip that opens and closes via a sliding mechanism on the handle, allowing the suture to be threaded or released without withdrawing the needle from the field.
How it is used
Passed by hand, or with minimal instrumentation, through deep tissue or narrow fields where maneuvering a conventionally threaded needle with a needle holder is difficult.
Clinical tip
Unlike the Keith needle (straight, fixed eye) or the swaged needle (no eye), its hinged eye allows the suture to be loaded or released in situ; its current use is limited and it appears mainly in gynecology and general-surgery catalogs for deep stitches.
Sources
This entry is part of the Instriq catalog, researched and written per specialty from real web research -- never generated or invented without verification -- and reviewed skeptically and independently before publication. How this catalog is written.