Blunt Hooks.
Greek, τυφλάγκιστρον; Latin, hamus retusus.
Aetius (Tet. III. i. 13) says:
‘Whatever adhesions there are of the lower border of the lids to the tunics of the eye, we must put them on the stretch with a blunt hook (τυφλαγκίστρῳ) and with a pterygotome free the adhesion.’
In Aetius (Tet. II. iii) we see the blunt hook used in the same way as we use an aneurism needle, except that the ligature is not introduced with it, but with another needle. He says we transfix the lips of the incisions with two hooks and gradually dissecting with the scalpel we free the vessel from the underlying fascia. Then with a blunt hook (τυφλάγκιστρον) placed under the vessel we raise it up from the depth, and beneath it when raised we place a two ply thread by means of a needle, and doubly tie and cut between.
Paul says:
‘Exposing the vessel with dissectors we must raise it up when it is separated all round. If it be small, having stretched and twisted it with a blunt hook, we may divide it through in such a way as to remove part of it. But if it be large we must apply a double ligature under it with a needle, either a piece of raw flax or some other strong thing’ (VI. v).
The ‘eyed hook’ is mentioned by Galen in describing the dissection of the spinal cord:
Ἐνδέχεται δὲ καὶ χωρὶς βελόνης ἀγκίστρῳ διατρήτῳ γενέσθαι τὴν ἐγχείρησιν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν περὶ τὰς καρωτίδας ἀρτηρίας νεύρων εἴωθε ποιεῖσθαι (ii. 669).
‘It is advisable that the manipulation be performed not with a needle but with an eyed hook, as is usually done in the case of the tendons in the neighbourhood of the carotid arteries.’