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. 2020 Sep 9;9(9):2912.
doi: 10.3390/jcm9092912.

Didactic Benefits of Surgery on Body Donors during Live Surgery Events in Minimally Invasive Surgery

Johannes Ackermann  1 , Thilo Wedel  2 , Bernd Holthaus  3 , Bernd Bojahr  4 , Andreas Hackethal  5 , Sara Brucker  6 , Matthias Biebl  7 , Martina Westermann  1 , Veronika Günther  1 , Magret Krüger  1 , Nicolai Maass  1 , Liselotte Mettler  1 , Göntje Peters  1 , Ibrahim Alkatout  1
Affiliations

Didactic Benefits of Surgery on Body Donors during Live Surgery Events in Minimally Invasive Surgery

Johannes Ackermann et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: Live surgery events serve as a valuable tool for surgical education, but also raise ethical concerns about patient safety and professional performance. In the present study, we evaluate the technical feasibility and didactic benefits of live surgery on body donors compared to real patients.

Methods: A live surgery session performed on a body donor's cadaver embalmed in ethanol-glycerol-lysoformin was integrated into the live surgery program presented at a major gynecological convention of minimally invasive surgery. Surgical procedures carried out in real patients were paralleled in the body donor, including the dissection and illustration of surgically relevant anatomical landmarks. A standardized questionnaire was filled by the participants (n = 208) to evaluate the appropriateness, effectiveness, and benefits of this novel concept.

Results: The live surgery event was appreciated as a useful educational tool. With regard to the use of body donors, authenticity was rated high (85.5%), and the overall value of body donors for surgical education and training was rated very high (95.0%). The didactic benefit of simultaneous operations performed on body donors and real patients was considered particularly useful (95.5%), whereas complete replacement of real patients by body donors was not favored (14.5%).

Conclusions: The study demonstrated both the technical feasibility and didactic benefits of performing minimally invasive surgery in body donors as part of live surgery events. This novel concept has the potential to enhance anatomical knowledge, providing insights into complex surgical procedures, and may serve to overcome yet unresolved ethical concerns related to live surgery events.

Keywords: body donors; clinical anatomy; laparoscopy; live surgery events; minimally invasive surgery; surgical education.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Set-up of the live surgery event. (A): Conference room equipped with several HD monitors for transmission of the live surgery event. (B): Transmission of laparoscopic procedures performed on a body donor from the attendees’ perspective. (C): Technical setting for live surgery performed on a body donor. (D): Demonstration of relevant anatomical structures on a formalin-fixed pre-dissected anatomical specimen (hemipelvis).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Evaluation (boxplots) of live surgery performed on (A) real patients and (B) a body donor. The answers were recorded on a continuous visual analog scale (VAS).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Value of live surgery performed on body donors: comparative subgroup analysis of AGE members and non-members. The answers were recorded on a continuous visual analog scale (VAS).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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