Alternatives Database

PracticeRat

This simulator for learning and practising basic vascular and neurological microsurgical techniques is an integral part of the Sharpoint microsurgical training system (for other components see below, under Price). It mimics the properties of a rat’s femoral vessels and sciatic nerve - appearance, consistency, tear characteristics and resistance to needle and blade passage. It is fully portable and available in several models: artery and vein; artery and vein with adventitia; artery and vein with adventitia and also with sciatic nerve. Provided access to a microscope is available, students can practice end-to-end and end-to-side anastomoses, interpositional vein grafts and nerve sutures. PracticeRat is also available with a pumping system controlled electronically by a built-in-digital-clock time slice method, so artificial blood can be pumped through the vessels with a pulsatile flow.

Medium: Simulator Price: US$38.00 (Basic Unit 100 - platform); US$70.00 (Basic Unit 101 - 1 mm artery & vein only); US$82.00 (Unit 102 - 1 mm artery & vein with adventitia); US$105.00 (Basic Unit 103 - 1 mm artery & vein with adventitia and sciatic nerve); US$7.00 (U Connector Tubing Set); US$12.00 (250 ml artificial arterial/venous blood); US$8.80 (per box of PracticePack - latex membrane in frame with a blue background to help enhance microsurgical suturing skills); US$106.40 - US$228.65 (per box of Nonsterile Laboratory Packs - needles and suture materials); US$100.00 (VHS NTSC version of videofilm ‘Microsurgical Repair of the Rat Sciatic Nerve’) / US$112.50 (VHS PAL version, special order only); US$24.95 (A Laboratory Manual for Microvascular and Microtubal Surgery); US$19.95 (Manual of Experimental Muscle Flap and Organ Transplantation Models in the Rat)