Evaluation of a Low-cost Renal Simulator for the Diagnostic Ultrasound Training of Veterinary Medicine Students

Abstract

The acquisition of ultrasound diagnostic skills via training is important for undergraduate veterinary medical students. Unfortunately, commercial simulators are costly, which limits their use and makes it necessary to develop low-cost simulators for training purposes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an easily constructed, low-cost, high-fidelity renal simulator for use in diagnostic ultrasound training of veterinary medical students. To construct the simulators, donated cat kidneys were embedded in a prepared agar matrix. The echogenicity of ultrasound scans obtained on the kidney simulator was assessed by the subject lecturers and compared with images acquired during clinical routine diagnostic procedures. Five students with no prior experience of the technique, under the direct supervision of a lecturer, performed five B-mode ultrasound examinations of the renal structure of the simulator. The structure of the kidney was assessed, and its length, width and thickness were measured. Three lecturers performed the same procedure as the students, and their results were used for comparison. Appropriate anatomical and ultrasonographic realism was achieved for each of the three layers of the kidney (cortex, medulla and pelvis), and similar pixel values were obtained with the simulator model and actual clinical diagnostic ultrasounds. In addition, the kidney dimensions acquired by the students were consistent with those acquired by the lecturers. Thus, the proposed kidney simulator can be used for the training of veterinary medicine students in ultrasonographic diagnostic techniques.

Editorial

“…In the current issue, da Costa et al 4 describe their model of healthy and diseased cat and dog hearts that have been cleverly divided into transverse plane section models for use in conjunction with text and 'real-life' echocardiographic images to help students more effectively learn the technique. Similarly, the preserved cat kidney model of Lozada-Gallegos et al 5 can be used by students to learn the technique of kidney ultrasound scanning, without the need for preliminary practice on live animal subjects. The orchiectomy simulator developed by Perez-Rivero et al, 6 with the inclusion of pressurised artificial blood, allows students to effectively practice their vascular ligation skills in order to reduce the risk of post-surgical haemorrhage in 'real-life' surgery scenarios.…”