US Patent Issued to THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY on Dec. 30 for "Fenestrated suction retractor" (Washington Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,507,866, issued on Dec. 30, was assigned to THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY (Fort Detrick, Md.).

"Fenestrated suction retractor" was invented by Douglas Scott Ruhl (DuPont, Wash.) and Renee Makowski Serra (Tacoma, Wash.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A tongue blade (retractor) with fenestrated suction ports along the length of the blade to remove (suction) smoke, fluid and/or particulate from the oral cavity during surgery (e.g. tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, oral cavity/tongue/airway procedures). This blade can connect to routine mouth retractors and commonly available suction tubing. It ha...