Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/umls/id/C0179126
UMD: Surgical instruments designed to bring anatomic structures into proximity or apposition (juxtaposition) during surgical procedures. These manual, handheld devices have physical dimensions and characteristics appropriate to the structures that they bring together (e.g., blood vessels, soft tissue, ribs, nerve tissue); they are manufactured with nonconventional shapes or components, differentiating them from other devices (e.g., hooks, clips, forceps) used to approximate anatomic structures. Surgical approximators are frequently used in pairs to grasp torn or resected portions of a single anatomic structure.