The Role of Living Models in the Spending Review Era: How Do You Make the Most of a Rat?

349 Ltter Dear Sir, I read with great interest the article “Comprehensive Analysis of Chicken Vessels as Microvascular Anastomosis Training Model” by Kang et al. [1]. In this paper, the authors discussed their evaluation of the anatomic characteristics of various chicken vessels as a training model. The authors concluded that non-living chickens can provide various vessels with different anatomic characteristics, which can allow trainees the choice of an appropriate microvascular anastomosis training model depending on their purpose and skill level. The increase in restrictions on animal use and the financial constraints of surgical training in recent years have led to the development and spread of many non-living animal models for microsurgery simulation. Such models are numerous and include rat cadavers, cryopreserved rat aortas, chicken and turkey wings, leaves and grape skin, human cadaver vessels, and different styles of plastic simulation materials [2,3]. Unfortunately, the abovementioned models do not allow the simulation of many factors that normally occur during microsurgical dissection and anastomosis, such as bleeding and vessel spasm [3,4]. Further, they prevent the surgeon from checking the anastomosis using a patency test. Therefore, living rat animal models are still indispensable. In the existing literature, many living rat animal models have been reported, including some used for evaluating the performance of several exercises, such as flaps or transplants. However, all these models LETTER