In the performance of thoracic, vascular and orthopedic surgery and related procedures, it is often necessary to support a portion of the patient's body including one or more limbs in a fixed position during the procedure, and also to vary the position from time to time. Oftentimes it is desirable to maintain such a limb, for example, in a fixed position during a surgical procedure so as to keep the procedure area as clear as possible and to avoid the limb interfering with the procedure. In some cases, operating room personnel manually support the particular extremity. For example, the assistant may have to stand on a platform in order manually to hold the arm at a right angle while the surgeon carries out the intervention. The patient usually is positioned in a lateral thoracotomy position with the arm elevated toward the ceiling at a right angle, and also with the forearm flexed at a right angle in relation to the arm.
Such use of operating room personnel to support manually a patient's extremity during a surgical procedure is undesirable in that the assistant becomes tired over time and finds it necessary to change position at a critical or otherwise inconvenient time. This may lead, for example, to actual trauma to the structures of the thoracic outlet due to the unusual excessive force. Furthermore, the assistant is unable to observe crucial aspects of the operation itself. Moreover, in addition to possibly interfering with the light available to the surgeon, the height of the assistant may increase the chances for contamination of the operating field.
It is well known and appreciated that in surgical procedures, time is of the essence, and delays associated with adjustments of support equipment are unwanted. Additionally, during certain procedures, it is desirable to impose or to change a biasing force on a body portion or limb which is undergoing a surgical procedure or treatment.
In view of the aforementioned shortcomings associated with conventional surgical techniques for supporting a patient's body part during surgery, there is a strong need in the art for a surgical support apparatus which may be mounted onto an operating table or be otherwise relatively secured and positioned outside the sterile field, and which affords for quick and easy positioning and repositioning of the patient's body part such as a limb for example.