A laboratory training model in fresh cadaveric sheep brain for microneurosurgical dissection of cranial nerves in posterior fossa.

A neurosurgical laboratory training model is designed for residents of neurosurgery to handle surgical microscopes and microneurosurgical instruments. The material consists of a one-year-old fresh cadaveric sheep cranium. A four-step approach was designed to simulate microneurosurgical dissection along the posterior fossa cisterns, and to dissect cranial nerves emerging from the brain stem. We conclude that this laboratory training model is useful to allow trainees to gain experience with the general use of an operating microscope, and familiarity with handling cranial nerves.