Simulation of Anastomosis in Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

Developing cardiac surgical skills and experience takes years of practice. Cardiac trainees need to develop technical proficiency in order to enhance quality of care and patient safety. Simulation-based models are common resources for teaching procedural skills in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. Suitable and accessible educational platforms can play a progressively important role in the training process for young surgeons in the area of cardiac surgery. Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery consists of a wide range of pathologic anatomies and surgical techniques. In this paper we introduce a novel, synthetic, biomimetic platform that allows for the realistic practice of the CABG surgery. The prototype uses a polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel which has been designed to mimic the geometric properties of vasculature. The proposed models look and feel like human tissue and possess somewhat consistent mechanical properties. In this study, we apply the platform to simulate a case of autogenous saphenous vein bypass grafting of a patient. An autogenous saphenous vein graft is placed from the aorta to the left anterior descending coronary artery. The standard procedures of the coronary artery bypass surgery were successfully simulated. Using the proposed technology, other complicated surgeries such as end to end, side to end, and sequential anastomoses can be simulated such that these models lend themselves very well to various types of anastomoses.