Surgical Snares Remove Growths from Tissue Surfaces
Surgical snares are medical instruments used to remove growths from tissue surfaces, usually when the growths are inside a body cavity. Typical growths addressed with surgical snares include polyps, tumors, and lymphoid tissue (tonsils).

Making Growth Removal Much Easier

Surgical snares have different designs that enable general and specialty surgeons to reach and remove tissue growths that are often in difficult to reach places. However, all snares are designed with the basic elements of a handle, cannula (thin tube), a wire loop at the tip of the cannula, and a mechanism for tightening the wire. The loop encircles the tissue at the bottom or stalk (peduncle) of the growth and is slowly tightened by a mechanism in the handle.

The simple but effective design allows surgeons to more easily remove tissues that are causing medical problems, like tonsils, or need to be biopsied to determine if they are cancerous.

Surgical Snares for Specific Procedures

The most common surgical snares are:

Ear snares – design allows access to the curved ear canal with minimal obstruction of the view for the excising of lesions or polyps
Nasal – design has a very thin, angled cannula that makes it easier for the surgeon to reach lesions or polyps in the nasal cavity
Tonsils – commonly used during a tonsillectomy, the design has a right angle cannula and straight tip that makes it easier for the surgeon to see the tissue in the oral cavity

There are also surgical snares specifically designed for removing growths in the GI tract and polypectomy snares for removing polyps during a colonoscopy.

Patient Safety and Surgeon Efficiency

Surgical snares are used mostly in hospital operating rooms and in clinics that perform outpatient surgeries. They simplify the procedure for the surgeon which in turn enhances patient safety by minimizing risks of inadvertent injury.