Development of a porcine training model for microvascular fasciocutaneous free flap reconstruction.
Head Face Med
; 20(1): 35, 2024 Jun 03.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38831370
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
In reconstructive surgery, improvements are needed in the effective teaching of free flap surgery. There is a need for easily accessible and widely available training without high financial costs or ethical concerns while still providing a realistic experience. Our aim was to develop an appropriate training model for microvascular flaps.METHODS:
We identified pig head halves as most appropriate regarding availability, cost, and realism. These accrue largely by the food industry, so no animals need to be sacrificed, making it more ethical from an animal welfare perspective. We evaluated the suitability as flap donor site and analyzed the vascular anatomy of 51 specimens.RESULTS:
Anatomical evaluation revealed a reliable and constant vascular anatomy, allowing the design of a flap model that can effectively illustrate the entire process of microvascular flap surgery. The process was divided into 6 key steps. The flap can be harvested after marking the vascular pedicle 5.3 cm from the lateral corner of the mouth. Skin island design and subsequent tissue dissection follow until a fasciocutaneous flap is raised, similar to a radial flap. Upon completion of flap harvesting, it can be freely transferred for defect reconstruction. Microvascular anastomosis can be performed on recipient vessels in the cervical region, and the difficulty can be individually adjusted.CONCLUSIONS:
The developed training model is a reasonable compromise in terms of surgical realism, availability, didactic value, and cost/time effectiveness. We believe it is a powerful and effective tool with high potential for improving surgical education and training.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Plastic Surgery Procedures
/
Models, Animal
/
Free Tissue Flaps
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Head Face Med
Journal subject:
MEDICINA
/
ODONTOLOGIA
/
ORTOPEDIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Alemania
Country of publication:
Reino Unido