THE USE OF ALTERNATIVE EXPERIMENTAL MODELS ON MICROSURGERY TECHNIQUE’S TRAINING FOR MEDICINE UNDERGRADUTE STUDENTS

Abstract

In Brazil, there is a great lack of micro-surgeons due to the fact that the training is long, expensive and requires a lot of dedication. With the outbreak of Committee on Animal Research and Ethics, it becomes increasingly restricted the surgical training of academics using small and medium-sized animals. The objective of this work was to report the training of medical academics of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) in microsurgery in the repair of peripheral nerve lesions by means of the tubulization technique. The 12-week training was carried out in a research laboratory of the PUCRS Hospital-School, using a low-cost commercial experimental model (cooled chicken thigh purchased in the local market of the city of Porto Alegre) and consisted in the execution of incision techniques Medial to the femur, dissection of the adjacent structures and exposure of the sciatic nerve, sciatic nerve section and tubulization by suturing the proximal and distal nerve at the ends of the silicone tube. The training provided an evolution in the skill of the trained technicians as well as in the time necessary for its accomplishment demonstrating that commercialized chicken pieces are an excellent model for the microsurgical training.