This report describes a technique for accurate small-vessel closure that aids in preventing avoidable compromise of the lumen.
In suturing a vessel opening by this method, the vessel is engaged and held by means of a nerve hook that obviates the use of customary thumb forceps (Fig 1). The assistant holds sustained traction on the suture, both to approximate edges of the incision and to create the transverse lattice of intravascular suture segments, CC′ (Fig 1, 2, and 3), against which the hook's foot applies pressure as it is gently pulled radially (Fig 1 and 3).
The nerve hook serves not only as "grasping forcep" but as a jig for the precise selection of the points of insertion and emergence of the needle. (A jig is a device used to maintain mechanically the correct positional relationship between a piece of work and the tools working on it and/or between parts