Are mechanical microvascular anastomoses easier to learn than suture anastomoses?

Sutured anastomoses of small vessels are considered difficult to learn. Mechanical anastomosis systems allow a more rapidly performed anastomosis. In order to compare the process of learning to perform sutured and mechanical microvascular anastomoses, two surgeons, with limited microvascular experience, performed 30 aortic and 30 femoral vein anastomoses in 30 Wistar rats. The methods compared were conventional suture, vascular closure system (VCS) and microvascular anastomatic coupler system (MAC). There were no inter-surgeon differences regarding patency or time to perform anastomoses. The average time to perform a suture anastomosis was 39 min (patency 80%). Anastomoses with the VCS system took 24 min (patency 25%), whereas the MAC couplers took 13 min to perform (patency 95%). There was a significant learning effect with sutures, but no obvious reduction in time to perform MAC coupler or VCS clip anastomoses was seen. MAC couplers were easiest to use, and allowed us to perform rapid anastomoses with high patency.