Microvascular Hands-on Workshop – Hellenic Neurosurgical Society

Dear Colleagues

It is a great pleasure to invite you all to the Training Courses offered by the Neurovascular Division of the Hellenic Neurosurgical Society, on the applications of Micro-Vascular Surgical Techniques to Neurosurgery.

The workshop intends to emphasize on systematic training of basic micro-neurosurgery techniques that will provide the essential skills demanded to handle operating microscopes and microsurgical instruments. Particularly, the scope of this workshop will not only focus on artery and vein dissection and manipulation, but also, on all variations of micro-vascular anastomotic techniques, including nerve coaptations.

The hands-on sessions of the course begin by training on tiny sutures (9-0, 10-0), using basic suturing techniques with silicon tubes and latex gloves; the aim is to let you to familiarize yourself with the operating microscope, micro-forceps, scissors and needle-holders. The session will continue on practicing artery and vein dissection as well as micro-anastomoses in fresh cadaver specimen, to further familiarize yourself with basic micro-surgical techniques in “real” tissues.

Following the above basic sessions, a three-day training in anesthetized animals, is carried through. Variations in the size of the animals (from rabbit to rat), vessels (from aorta/vena cava to femoral vessels) and the type of anastomoses (from end-to-end to end-to-side and side-to-side), are arranged to produce a gradually increasing difficulty. The program will continuously help you refine your skills, day by day. Starting from the elementary level and ending by reaching the most sophisticated microsurgical techniques.

Although most time of the course is devoted to provide a hands-on experience regarding operative techniques, several keystone lectures on neurosurgical topics that are related to the application of the above techniques in our daily clinical practice, are also included in the workshop’s line of program. These lectures will provide the clinical knowledge necessary for the creative development of micro-surgical techniques (learned in the laboratory), aimed to favor your patient’s treatment in the clinical setting.

Our faculty includes some of the most experienced physicians on Micro-Neurosurgery Training Courses, who are going to instruct all the techniques described above, in a highly equipped training laboratory.

Dear trainee, we are confident that upon completion of this one-week training course, you will be able to start applying these techniques in your everyday clinical practice.

All participants of the workshop will be granted with 33 credit points Continuing Medical Education (CME-CPD), according to the EACCME-UEMS criteria.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Athens and will strive to make this course an invaluable experience for you.

Best Wishes

Alexandros Andreou MD, Ph.D
Course Director