New Model for Veterinary Surgery Training Available ¾ Simulating Live Surgery
Emad Aboud, M.D.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
Swaida National Hospital, Swaida, Syria
Over the past two decades, many veterinary medical schools have adopted alternatives to harming and killing animals for surgery training and other veterinary procedures. Numerous training models have been developed which offer veterinary students the opportunity to hone their skills prior to performing surgery on live animals or for refining or mastering other skills. Available training models, such as mannequins, computer models, virtual reality, and ethically-sourced cadavers, offer valuable training opportunities. However, these alternatives do not totally mimic a live animal in that they do not bleed or provide the pulsation and liquid filling of the vessels, and lack the softness of live tissue.
I introduce here a new training technique using ethically-obtained animal cadavers that can provide trainees with all the requirements for real live surgery tissue, bleeding, pulsation, and liquid filling of the vessels in the same anatomy that trainees are going to work on as veterinarians. Cadavers can be obtained ethically through willed-body programs, animals who have died naturally or in accidents, or animals who have been euthanatized for medical reasons.
This surgery training model has already been used to train human medical doctors (using human cadavers) at several schools in the United States, including the neurosurgery departments at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and at the University of Miami. It also has been used for human medical training in other countries such as at the Swaida National Hospital in Syria and the International Neurosciences Institute in Hannover, Germany. This model is not yet used in veterinary training but it has been introduced at the World Congress for Alternatives and the recent InterNICHE Conference in Oslo. Dr. Daniel Smeak of the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. M.S. Amarendhra Kumar of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine both have plans to introduce this training model at their schools.
Description
Ethically-obtained cadavers are embalmed in the same manner of preparing cadavers for anatomical dissection. A portion or a whole cadaver can be used. In the example depicted, a head of a cadaver is used (in this case a fox killed by a vehicle on the road), the major vessels are cannulated (Fig. 1), a major artery and vein of the specimen are connected to an artificial blood reservoirs, the arterial blood reservoir is further connected to a machine that can provide a pulsating pressure. The artificial blood now will fill the vessels under the desired pressure applied to the reservoirs (Fig. 2). With this arrangement, we now have a cadaver specimen that can bleed and arteries that can pulsate. When using the whole cadaver, the same vessels that are used to inject embalming materials can be used for the cannulation process.
Applications
All kinds of surgical procedures can be applied to this model, including endoscopic and endovascular procedures. Trainees can make skin incisions and suture the incision site, dissect soft oozing tissues, ligate and coagulate bleeding vessels, and practice vascular anastamosis or intestinal anastamosis, transplantations, angiograms, etc. Almost any kind of surgical procedure can be practiced under the same conditions of real live surgery. In addition to the surgical applications, trainees can practice medical techniques such as withdrawing blood samples and insertion of central and arterial lines.
This model adds a new dimension to surgical training and increases by enabling practice on many surgical procedures and techniques simulating real live surgery that is superior to using plain cadaveric specimens or other training models. Implementing this model into the teaching curriculum will help eliminate the harmful and fatal use of animals for surgical training in both human and veterinary practice.
NOTE: Any veterinary faculty or students who are interested in working with Dr. Aboud to introduce this training model into their surgery training laboratories can contact him at aboud@swaida.com.
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