Raney scalp clips
Small spring-loaded plastic or metal clips with two toothed jaws, applied along the bleeding edge of the scalp flap using a dedicated applying forceps. Introduced in 1937, they remain the standard for scalp hemostasis in cranial neurosurgery.
How it is used
Applied to the flap edge immediately after the incision to compress scalp vessels (a highly vascular layer) and control bleeding for the rest of the craniotomy; removed with the same forceps just before closure.
Clinical tip
Before its invention, scalp hemostasis relied on hemostatic sutures, tourniquets, or sequentially applied hemostatic forceps; with an estimated 13.8 million cranial neurosurgical cases performed annually worldwide, the Raney clip remains by far the most widely used method.
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 2026-10-25.
Dates derived from the project's public version-control history on GitHub, not a live collaborative edit log.