A SYNTHETIC MODEL FOR MICROSURGICAL TRAINING - A SURGICAL CONTRIBUTION TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF ANIMAL-EXPERIMENTS

Microsurgery has grown to be an essential technique in pediatric surge ry. Thus, there is an increasing need for basic training and skills ma intenance, which require a continuous laboratory training. As an alter native to microsurgical exercises on living animals, a model including a simulation vein, artery and nerve is being introduced. It provides an opportunity to practice microsurgical technique with optimal availa bility at any time at fairly low cost. Its potentials and limits in th e training of microsurgical dissection, anastomosis and quality contro l are being compared to experiments on anesthetized animals. Although a few exercises on living animals are mandatory to close the gap betwe en the laboratory and the patient, a synthetic model is a valuable too l in microsurgical training and helps to reduce animal experiments.