Mapping system for portal placement in laparoscopic procedures of small animals.
BACKGROUND
Current recommendations for portal placement in laparoscopy are often imprecise. The aim of this study was to establish and evaluate a mapping system for portal placement during laparoscopic procedures in small animals. Sixty-four final-year veterinary students took part in this in papyro study. Descriptions of portal placements of two recent veterinary laparoscopic papers were randomly chosen as templates. The students performed portal placement based either on the description in the papers or based on the orthogonal mapping system for portal placement developed by the authors in a previous pilot study. The participants were randomly divided into two groups and asked to virtually chart positions of the portals on two photographs of a dog's abdomen. Group A (n = 31) placed the portals using the mapping system, and Group B (n = 33) placed the portals based on the explanations provided in two randomly selected studies.


RESULTS
Group A achieved an overall correct placement rate of 94.91 % (87.1-100.0 %) with an overall mean distance of 1.31 mm (0.00-3.61 mm) from the desired placement points. Group B achieved an overall correct placement rate of 40.8 % (3.1-93.3 %) with an overall mean distance of 16.97 mm (7.17-27.63 mm) from the desired placement points. The students in Group A performed significantly better than did students in Group B (P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Use of the mapping system significantly improved correct portal placement in a dog photograph model. Use of such systems in laparoscopy may help facilitate correct portal placement and improve the repeatability of procedures, especially for the novice surgeon.
Small Animal Surgery, Department for Companion Animals and Horses, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria. nikola.katic@vetmeduni.ac.at.
Nikola
N
Katic
Small Animal Surgery, Department for Companion Animals and Horses, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria. Vivian.Fromme@kleintierklinik.uni-leipzig.de.|Present address: Universität Leipzig, Veterinärmedizinische Fakultät, Klinik für Kleintiere, An den Tierkliniken 23, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. Vivian.Fromme@kleintierklinik.uni-leipzig.de.
Vivian
V
Fromme
Small Animal Surgery, Department for Companion Animals and Horses, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria. barbara.bockstahler@vetmeduni.ac.at.
Barbara
B
Bockstahler
Small Animal Surgery, Department for Companion Animals and Horses, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria. gilles.dupre@vetmeduni.ac.at.
Gilles
G
Dupré
D000005:Abdomen / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery; D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs / Q000601:surgery*; D004520:Education, Veterinary; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards / Q000662:veterinary*; D013334:Students