Table 1

Incidence of rough and smooth rib ends; mean incision lengths, times, and speeds; thoracic cavity incidence of fluid, adhesions, tumours, spray, and organ damage; and approximate costing for the instruments used in the study

	Hand saw			Electric saw			Rib shears			Bread knife
	Right	Left	Total	Right	Left	Total	Right	Left	Total	Right	Left	Total
Path., pathologist; s, seconds.
Rough bone	20	20	40	12	10	22	30	19	49	8	18	26
Smooth bone	16	3	19	16	5	21	1	11	12	11	6	17

Rough cartilage	1	1	2	1	0	1	4	1	5	1	1	2
Smooth cartilage	14	28	42	23	38	61	21	21	42	33	28	61

Mean incision length (Path. 1) (cm)	–	31	31	27	–	27	29	–	29	–	–	–
Mean incision time (Path. 1) (s)	–	18	18	23	–	23	20	–	20	–	–	–
Mean incision speed (Path. 1) (cm/s)	–	1.7	1.7	1.2	–	1.2	1.5	–	1.5	–	–	–

Mean incision length (Path. 2) (cm)	36	29	34	32	32	32	31	33	32	29	31	31
Mean incision time (Path. 2) (s)	16	14	16	18	12	16	10	15	13	5	12	10
Mean incision speed (Path. 2) (cm/s)	2.2	2.1	2.2	1.7	2.7	2.0	3.3	2.2	2.4	6.4	2.6	3.2

Mean incision length (Path. 3) (cm)	30	28	29	24	32	30	31	31	31	32	30	31
Mean incision time (Path. 3) (s)	18	16	17	16	19	18	26	28	27	13	15	13
Mean incision speed (Path. 3) (cm/s)	1.7	1.8	1.7	1.5	1.7	1.6	1.2	1.2	1.2	2.5	2.1	2.0

Mean incision speed (cm/s)	1.9	1.8	1.9	1.6	1.9	1.7	1.6	1.7	1.6	3.1	3.2	3.1

Fluid	1	0	1	2	1	3	1	2	3	2	0	2
Adhesions	1	1	2	1	1	2	3	0	3	1	0	1
Tumour	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Spray	0	0	0	3	4	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Organ damage	1	1	2	0	0	0	3	0	3	2	3	5

Approximate cost (£)			25			900			50			12