Learning Curve of Microsurgical Anastomosis: Training for Resident Education

Acquiring microsurgical anastomosis skills requires considerable time and effort. Moreover, appropriate and systematic training for acquiring microsurgical anastomosis skills is lacking. Therefore, this study investigated the learning curve for acquiring microsurgical anastomosis techniques among orthopaedic surgery residents.

The study involved 12 orthopaedic surgery residents without experience in microsurgical anastomosis. The residents were divided into two groups: the 'Experienced group' with more than 6 months of suturing experience and the 'Inexperienced group' with no suturing experience. Each participant underwent 30 practice sessions, suturing a 3.5-mm diameter silastic tube. The time taken for each anastomosis and its quality were evaluated. Individual learning curves were derived, and the number of trials required to reach the time plateau was determined.

The Experienced group reached the time plateau after an average of 16.3 ± 1.4 attempts while the Inexperienced group reached it after an average of 24.2 ± 2.5 attempts. The time required for the first two attempts was 40.4 ± 6.2 min for the Experienced group and 61.2 ± 8.6 min for the Inexperienced group ( P < 0.001). The time required for the last two attempts was 11.4 ± 0.7 min for the Experienced group and 12.8 ± 0.8 min for the Inexperienced group. Comparing the quality scores of the first two attempts, the Experienced group scored 4.3 ± 0.5 points and the Inexperienced group scored 3.1 ± 0.5 points ( P < 0.001). The Experienced group scored 7.8 ± 0.5 points for the last two attempts while the Inexperienced group scored 6.9 ± 0.3 points ( P < 0.001).

Individuals new to suturing improved anastomosis time and quality by approximately 30 times. This finding suggests that practitioners can optimize their training while educators can refine the curriculum by predicting learning curves and providing timely feedback to enhance skill development.