Heterotopic renal transplantation in the rat: an advanced microsurgical training exercise

Microsurgical training programs have instructed trainees from many surgical specialties with the expansion of these techniques into all areas of clinical surgery and experimental research. Most programs employ the rat femoral vessel model in microsurgical training. A more complex and less frequently used model, the rat renal transplantation procedure, can be used for advanced training in microsurgical and microurological techniques and offers several advantages over other microsurgical models. In the heterotopic renal transplant model, the left kidney from a donor rat is transferred to the inguinofemoral region of a syngeneic recipient. The method of revascularization can be varied from end-to-end repairs of vessels of equal diameter to those of unequal diameter. In addition to the variety of possible vascular repairs, an advantage of this model over others is that the kidney graft can be harvested by a technician, thus reducing the time commitments of the trainee. This model is ideal for microsurgeons, immunologists, and urologists, since it affords the opportunity for developing technical skills while preparing an experimental model that can be used for further research. We describe the model, the operative techniques, and the variations one can employ in performing the vascular repairs.