Comparative Prospective Study of Microvascular Anastomosis Training by Self-Learning or with Expert Instruction

Young neurosurgeons have little opportunity to receive expert feedback while learning microvascular anastomosis. Our objective was to determine the importance of expert feedback. We compared students who studied anastomosis by self-learning with those who studied it with expert feedback. Our second objective was to determine the efficacy of intensive training by comparing the skills of the students with expert feedback with those of neurosurgeons.

Twenty-five medical students and 9 neurosurgeons participated. The students were provided with instructional Digital Video Disks (DVDs) and spent 2 weeks practicing gauze fiber microsuturing followed by 6 weeks practicing end-to-side anastomosis using silicone tube. The students assigned to the expert feedback group received weekly feedback through a video call, whereas those in the self-learning group did not. After training, the students completed a final practical examination that was recorded on DVD. The DVDs and procedural products were numbered and distributed to 2 blinded independent expert neurosurgeons for grading. The neurosurgeons completed a similar examination, and their performances were also recorded and compared with those of the medical students.

Compared with the self-learning group, the expert feedback group showed significantly higher anastomosis scores (P = 0.0261) and a nonsignificant tendency toward slower anastomosis times (P = 0.4188). The expert feedback group also achieved significantly higher anastomosis scores than did the neurosurgeons (P = 0.0055).

Expert feedback improves mastery of microvascular anastomosis. Intensive training with regular expert feedback enables medical students to achieve microvascular anastomosis skills better than those of neurosurgeons.