The advantages of modified Thiel technique in head and neck surgical anatomy teaching.

PURPOSE: Thiel's body preservation method allows the donor body to retain color and soft tissue that are similar to those of a living individual. Since its initial description, the technique has not been developed much. Here, we propose a simpler protocol applied to the head and neck, making the technique easier, cheaper, and more accessible to a greater number of medical schools. METHODS: The modified Thiel technique was applied to three heads separated from the body, followed by 6 h of perfusion and 6 weeks of fixation. This technique was compared with formalin (three heads) and freeze (three heads) preservations during academic training in head and neck surgery. Anatomical dissections included a parotid gland dissection, a submandibular gland dissection, an otologic and an endonasal dissection. Twelve surgeons blindly assessed the three types of preservations using a standardized questionnaire. RESULTS: The modified Thiel technique made possible better quality of dissection and tissue identification, with the exception of endonasal dissection. Concerning the endonasal dissection, the modified Thiel technique ranked best for smell, but all other criteria ranked lower than the freezing method. For the submandibular and parotid gland dissections, the modified Thiel technique was ranked best, with statistically significant differences (p < 0.002) for all items. The modified Thiel technique also ranked significantly better during otologic surgery regarding the quality of the skin/eardrum, bone, and muscle, and the smell. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the modified Thiel technique is an embalming technique which improves the quality of head and neck surgical anatomy education.

Motion Sickness Lessons from the Southern Ocean.

BACKGROUND: The objectives were to assess the prevalence, severity, and medication taken, and to look for predictive factors in order to better identify characteristics of passengers at risk of motion sickness during transport from Hobart in Tasmania to the French polar stations in Antarctica. METHODS: There were 239 passengers who were surveyed over 4 yr with 4 round trips per year using the Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire (MSSQ), Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), state-trait anxiety test (STAI-Trait and STAI-State), and general parameters (age, gender, number of trips, jet-lag, direction of the trip), medication, calculation of the distance of each passengers cabin to the center of gravity (CoG). RESULTS: While the passengers had a low intrinsic sensitivity to motion sickness (MSSQ), 94 reported at least one SSQ symptom of motion sickness, and 38 vomited. Five associated factors were discovered: greater initial sensitivity (MSSQ), anticipation of being ill, younger age, higher level of anxiety at midtrip, and greater distance from the CoG. Of the passengers, there were 54 who took anti-motion sickness medication at different times of the trip, however, these passengers experienced more nausea. This could be due to self-selection since they were more sensitive to motion sickness. CONCLUSION: We identified three predictive factors of motion sickness (greater intrinsic susceptibility, younger age, and greater cabin distance from the CoG). For preventive purposes, two associated factors of MS (anticipation of being ill, MSSQ score) were determined to classify three groups of risk of MS to improve passenger care during the trip. Besnard S, Bois J, Hitier M, Vogt J, Laforet P, Golding JF. Motion sickness lessons from the Southern Ocean. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(9):720727.