Training in cardiac surgery using human cadavers: Effectiveness of “Silent Teachers”

Abstract

Background Surgical skills acquisition in cardiac surgery requires consistent and hard practice. Furthermore, training using cadaver is advocated as a means of transferring learned skills to the operating room and recreate surgical situations for trainees to practice and hone their skills. We expose our experience in training for cardiac surgical procedures using human cadavers. Methods From June 2013 to November 2016, we performed 302 cardiac surgical procedures on 50 human cadavers obtained according to the Ivorian laws in force. Cadavers were preserved in 10% formaldehyde and by cryopreservation. Results In open heart, cardiac surgical techniques were achieved via sternotomy (n = 24) or via “lid‐anterolateral thoracotomy” (n = 2). Pericardotomy (n = 26) and/or pericardiectomy (n = 26) were systematic. Aortic and caval canulations and pulmonary artery control (n = 30) were performed. After cardiotomy and arterial incisions (n = 34), 18 atrial and ventricular septal defects repair, 1 Fontan operation, 1 arterial switch, 11 enlargement procedures of the whole right ventricular outlet and 15 acquired valve heart diseases corrections were performed. In closed‐heart surgery, procedures were achieved via sternotomy (n = 7), posterolateral thoracotomy (n = 12), or Marfan retroxiphoid approach (n = 3). Pericardotomy (n = 7) or pericardiectomy (n = 7) were performed. Great vessels dissections and expositions (n = 21) were achieved to perform 4 pulmonary artery bandings, 12 patent ductus arteriosus closures, 3 Waldhausen procedures, 7 Brock Operations, and 2 Blalock‐Taussig shunts. In both situations, 29 direct pulmonary arterial, auricular, and ventricular sutures were achieved. Conclusion Surgical simulation in cadaver models offer an opportunity for trainees to practice their surgical skills before entering operating room.

Cross-Sectional Study on the Comparative Assessment of Mandibular Anesthesia (Inferior Alveolar Nerve Blockage) Manual Skills Shaping among Dentists on Plastic and Biomaterial Models

“…In a study by Stefanidis D. et al, 2013, it was mentioned that there were no differences in the perceived similarity to live-patient surgery in a study on pigs and human cadaver material [15]. Activities, including VR-tech, augmented reality (AR), 3D printing of models, and cadavers nowadays in the educational process, open new vistas in manual-skills shaping [16,17]. However, in the dentistry section there is lack of such studies-there are no results at PubMed when searching for "inferior alveolar nerve blockage AND stress AND dentist", "inferior alveolar nerve blockage AND cadaver AND training", and "inferior alveolar nerve blockage AND cadaver AND phantoms".…”