Learning of supermicrosurgical vascular anastomosis: MicroChirSim® procedural simulator versus Anastomosis Training Kit® procedural simulator.

Many biological and non-biological simulators have been developed to reduce the length of the learning curve for supermicrosurgery. All of them have disadvantages. The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of the new MicrochirSim® (0.5mm) non-biological procedural simulator by comparing it to the Anastomosis Training Kit® (2mm). After viewing a video of end-to-end anastomosis of a rat-tail artery, 10 residents in surgery reproduced the same technique on a procedural simulator: 5 on the MicroChirSim® (group 1) and 5 on the Anastomosis Training Kit® (group 2). The 10 residents then each performed five end-to-end anastomoses of the rat-tail artery on which they were evaluated. The average length of the procedure was 33minutes in group 1 and 45minutes in group 2. The average number of suture points was 3.7 in group 1 and 5.4 in group 2, which suggests training with a 0.5mm simulator improves suturing. The anastomosis was patent in 25 cases in group 1 and in 22 cases in group 2. The anastomosis was free of leaks in 25 cases in group 1 and in 19 cases in group 2. In conclusion, the MicroChirSim® procedural simulator accelerates the learning curve for vascular supermicrosurgery.