Training in Micro-Vascular Anastomosis Using Rat Femoral Vessels: Comparison of Immediate and Delayed Patency Rates

Micro-vascular anastomosis is a difficult art. It can be learnt and perfected only by practice using vessels of small animals in the laboratory. The purpose of the study was to practice various anastomotic techniques using rat femoral vessels and study the patency rates.

Sixty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were used in the study. The following procedures were conducted on rat femoral vessels; Femoral artery end-to-end anastomosis- classical method, one way up method, Femoral vein end-to-end anastomosis and end-to-side anastomosis. The animals were subsequently sacrificed at a later date to assess delayed patency.

The immediate patency rates for femoral artery end-to-end anastomosis- classical method (n=10), one way up method (n=16), femoral vein end-to-end anastomosis (n=12) and end-to-side anastomosis (n=26) were 100%, 81.3%, 58.3% and 53.8% respectively. The delayed patency rates (Mean follow-up=3.6 months) were 66.7%, 69.2%, 83.3% and 16% respectively. The clamp duration and suturing time significantly decreased and patency rates improved significantly in the latter half of the study.

The clamp duration, suturing time and patency rates improved considerably with time. The need of the hour is to establish well-planned training programs in centers with Animal Research facilities. This will promote younger colleagues and trainees to take up and perfect this difficult art. The present work could be used as a baseline study in this direction.