Five-Step Self-Assessment Evaluation for Microvascular Patency in Non-Living Specimen

Abstract

To develop a 5-step evaluation method to predict vessel patency in non-living specimens by analyzing the relationship between this evaluation score and patency rate in rat femoral vessel anastomosis. Surgical specimens of rat femoral anastomoses were collected from a basic microsurgery course. Each specimen was recorded during practice conducted on living specimens into Group 1: Successful or Group 2: Failed anastomosis. Then, all specimens were cut and blindly sent for assessment of the quality of anastomosis using the 5-step evaluation method including: (1) General appearance, (2) Passing catheter, (3) Vessel expansion, (4) Fluid outflow and (5) Anastomosis leakage. Total score (10 points) was recorded and compared between the 2 groups. The average score in each group and passing score for successful anastomoses were calculated and reported. A total of 47 femoral vessel anastomoses were studied. There were 25 successful anastomoses in group 1 and 22 failed anastomosis in group 2. The mean scores in group 1 and group 2 were 7.92, and 1.55, respectively. The passing score to determine successful anastomosis was 5 and chosen based on ROC curve. Predicted success rate of the anastomosis at the score of 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10 were 92%-95%, 94%-95% and 100%, respectively. The 5-step self-assessment evaluation could serve as an effective tool for new trainees to monitor their practice results during basic microsurgical training in non-living specimen.