Systematic review of good surgical practice guidelines for experimental rodent surgery

Surgery is an integral part of many animal studies. Good surgical practice, including aseptic and minimally invasive surgical techniques and optimal peri-and post-operative care, is a prerequisite to achieve surgical success and optimize the animal's post-operative recovery. Moreover, using good surgical practice can reduce variability, improve reproducibility, and increase the external validity of an experiment. However, there seems to be a lack of implementation of good surgical practice, especially for rodents. The aim of this systematic review was to identify, critically evaluate and compare current guidelines describing surgical practice for experimental rodent surgery. In accordance with our pre-registered protocol, we comprehensively searched PubMed, Embase and Web of Science for guidelines on rodent surgery. 1585 unique results were retrieved, of which 29 publications met the inclusion criteria. In addition, unpublished guidelines were identified by searching in Google (85 guidelines), laboratory animal science books (10 guidelines) and a survey among researchers (1 guideline). A descriptive synthesis of the continent of origin, year of publication, prevalence of unique individual recommendations, and a qualitative comparison of the recommendations was done. Key recommendations such as the use of sterile gloves, sterile instruments and sterile drapes were frequently found in guidelines. The absence of other important recommendations, such as the use of sterile gowns, the help of an assistant or the acceptance of the tips only technique, pointed to non-stringent hygiene concept. In some areas, the highest standards were recommended, while at the same time only minimal requirements were described in others.