Aboud E. Making cadavers live for laboratory surgical training. An alternative model for surgical training (a cadaver based model) [Abstract]. ALTEX. 2005;22(Special Issue):8


Abstract

Laboratory training models are essential for developing and refining surgical skills, especially for microsurgery. The lack of an accurate vascular model has necessitated the use of living models when bleeding, and vascular liquid filling is required. To avoid the use of live anaesthetised animals in surgical training, particularly in training on procedures that must simulate the living human in terms of ability of bleeding, and liquid filling of vessels to practice vascular and microsurgical procedures. We have developed a new method using human cadavers for surgical training by connecting the vessels of the cadaveric specimen to coloured liquid reservoirs and using a pump to provide pulsating pressure transmitted to the vessels. This method provides a condition that simulates live surgery in terms of bleeding, pulsation, and fluid filling of the vascular tree, being an excellent alternative model. It can be applied to the whole cadaver or to a particular cadaveric parts (head, arm, leg…) or to an isolated organ (heart, liver, kidney…) and can be applied in the same manner to ethically sourced animal cadaveric specimens for veterinary surgical training instead of using live healthy animals. We used this model in courses were rats, rabbits, and other small animals been used for practising vascular dissection and anastomosis saving hundreds of live healthy animals in few courses.

Utilising this technique will eliminate, and forever the use of live anaesthetised healthy animals for surgical training. Video and PowerPoint presentation.

United States Patent No.: US 6,790,043 B2, Sep 2004.
 





Link to journal: ALTEX - Alternatives to Animal Experimentation