Neurovascular microsurgery: a model for laboratory investigation and the development of technical skills

An inexpensive and reproducible model to help in developing the technical skills for, and to investigate experimentally, a microvascular anastomosis resembling the superficial temporal-middle cerebral artery bypass is described. The model is used to illustrate the important principles of microvascular surgery. Using a standardized operative technique, we evaluated 50 successive preparations by perfusion; the patency rate was 100%.