Uniportal video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy using a novel perfused simulation model.

Simulation may provide a solution to acquire advanced skills in thoracic surgery, however to date there are no reports in the English literature about a perfused model. We developed a low cost and hi fidelity model using an in bloc heart and lung specimen from a swine. The swine was previously used in a non-thoracic experiment, so we extracted the lung and heart for this based model to reduce animal use. The cost of the whole model is 70 USD and it can be reused many times changing the tissue, so this model may help reduce the costs and animal use associated to this high complexity surgery.