Mayfield skull clamp (head holder)
A system made of a three-pin clamp (two pins on one side, one on the other fitted with a torque screw) and an articulated arm that anchors to the operating table.
How it is used
Rigidly immobilizes the patient's skull relative to the operating table during craniotomies and certain posterior cervical approaches, enabling precision work with the microscope or neuronavigation.
Clinical tip
In young children or patients with very thin calvaria, alternative fixation should be considered, as skull fractures from the Mayfield pins have been reported.
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.
History
Added to the catalog on 2026-10-02.
Dates derived from the project's public version-control history on GitHub, not a live collaborative edit log.