Simulated Training for Vascular Surgeons and Cardiologists

The leading provider of simulation-based medical education, Simbionix, recently released an update for their ANGIO Mentor™ line of endovascular simulators. This training simulator provides virtual hands-on practice in a simulated environment for a number of endovascular procedures. The update includes additional training modules that will allow surgeons to practice for complicated procedures, in a safe virtual environment where mistakes are learning lessons rather than costly mishaps.

The training simulator includes modules designed specifically for surgical trainees, that teach the fundamentals in regards to basic operation of the equipment. Once trainees are comfortable with the product and have mastered the controls, they are run through training sessions that instruct them on everything from wire-catheter manipulation, to core electrophysiology skills, to the treatment of structural heart diseases.

One of the most impressive features of this training simulator is that it allows surgeons to practice the introduction and interpretation of live echocardiography, including training on the following procedures:

Atrial Septal Defect Closure
Patent Foramen Ovale Closure
Left Atrial Appendage Closure
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation

The new set of training modules for the endovascular simulator will be demonstrated next week at 4 different locations worldwide. This virtual reality training simulator, and the new modules that were recently created, will be showcased at:

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Scientific Sessions, May 8-11, Orlando, FL.
The Heart Rhythm Society’s Annual Scientific Sessions, May 8-11, Denver, CO.
The European Symposium of Vascular Biomaterials, May 10-11, Strasbourg, France.
The European Association for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions, May 21-24, Paris, France.

Simbionix offers training simulator products that provide virtual hands-on practice in a comprehensive simulated environments, for the following medical disciplines:

Interventional Radiology
Interventional Cardiology
Electrophysiology
Vascular Surgery
Interventional Neuroradiology and Thoracic Surgery

As medical devices, and the procedures they perform, continue to become increasingly complex, the training for these devices and procedures needs to keep up. Medical professionals who are now charged not only with the patient’s safety, but also the responsibility to operate complicated medical equipment. In order to be fully competent they must have an expert level of the underlying medical issues, technical knowledge of how the device works, a complete mastery of the techniques required to perform the operation with the aid of the device, and of course exceptional hand-eye coordination skills that can only be obtained through repetitive practice of the procedure. All of these requirements can be satisfied through the use of training simulators that allow users to focus on condition-specific procedures, and learn by doing, in a safe and effective clinical training environment.