A surgical instrument with a long blade designed to cut into the esophagus during throat operations.
From Greek 'esophagos' (gullet) + '-tome' (cutting instrument). The suffix '-tome' comes from 'temno' meaning to cut, and appears in many surgical tools like microtome and dermatome.
Before modern endoscopes, surgeons used specialized knives like this to carefully incise the esophagus—these tools required incredible precision since even a slight slip could cause severe internal bleeding. It's a reminder of how far surgical technique has evolved.
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