CC BY-NC 4.0 · Arch Plast Surg 2014; 41(03): 201-208
DOI: 10.5999/aps.2014.41.3.201
Topic: Microsurgery Trainings

The Rat Model in Microsurgery Education: Classical Exercises and New Horizons

Sandra Shurey
Northwick Park Institute for Biomedical Research, Imperial College, London, UK
,
Yelena Akelina
Microsurgery Research and Training Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, USA
,
Josette Legagneux
Microsurgery Training and Research Lab, Paris School of Surgery, Paris, France
,
Gerardo Malzone
Department of Plastic Surgery Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
,
Lucian Jiga
Pius Branzeu Centre for Laparoscopic Surgery and Microsurgery, Timisoara, Romania
,
Ali Mahmoud Ghanem
Microvascular Anastomosis Simulation Hub, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK
› Author Affiliations

Microsurgery is a precise surgical skill that requires an extensive training period and the supervision of expert instructors. The classical training schemes in microsurgery have started with multiday experimental courses on the rat model. These courses have offered a low threat supervised high fidelity laboratory setting in which students can steadily and rapidly progress. This simulated environment allows students to make and recognise mistakes in microsurgery techniques and thus shifts any related risks of the early training period from the operating room to the lab. To achieve a high level of skill acquisition before beginning clinical practice, students are trained on a comprehensive set of exercises the rat model can uniquely provide, with progressive complexity as competency improves. This paper presents the utility of the classical rat model in three of the earliest microsurgery training centres and the new prospects that this versatile and expansive training model offers.



Publication History

Received: 10 February 2013

Accepted: 14 May 2013

Article published online:
02 May 2022

© 2014. The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, permitting unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

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