Poster4 - 03: SEMI-WET TRAINING PROGRAM WITH THE USE OF PORCINE ORGANS FOR ENDOSCOPIC SURGERY
Akihiro Suzuki, MD, PhD¹, Kiyoyuki Miyasaka, MD², Toru Bando, MD, PhD¹, Hiroyasu Misumi, MD¹, Hideko Yamauchi, MD¹, Akihiro Kishida, MD¹, Hiroshi Matsufuji, MD, PhD¹; ¹St. Luke's International Hospital, ²St. Luke's International University

Objective: To develop and validate a new cost-effective animal organ training model for practicing advanced endoscopic surgery skills.

Design, Setting: Our institution created an endoscopic surgical training program, which consists of five dry-box tasks of fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS) and two tasks of vessel ligation and intracorporeal suturing of intestinal wall, with the use of porcine intestine. In this study, we prepared two models: surgical residents either practiced the laparoscopic procedure in living porcine under general anesthesia (wet lab model) or used 20 cm of porcine intestine in a dry box (semi-wet lab model) 1 day after the completion of FLS tasks. Participants completed surveys after the interventions. Technical scores, responses to survey questions, and costs were analyzed.

Participants: A total of 12 surgical residents practiced our endoscopic surgical training program between 2016 and 2017.

Results: Six surgical residents were assigned to each training model. There were no differences in technical skill scores between the two groups. The 1-day program corresponded approximately to 13.7 days of clinical training experiences in the wet lab model, and 17.2 days in the semi-wet lab model (p=0.21). In all, 100% of participants recommended the use of the semi-wet lab model program with other surgical residents in both groups. The costs were approximately $1550 per person in the wet lab model, and $50 per person in the semi-wet lab model.

Conclusion: Our new semi-wet endoscopic surgical training program with porcine organs was useful and cost-effective. The new program could provide better opportunities for surgical residents to practice endoscopic surgery and with lower costs.