title: Evaluation of a training course on open vascular surgical techniques in aortoiliac pathology - 5 years of experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this prospective study was to assess the efficacy of a vascular surgery course (2008-2012), and to verify the viability and the feasibility of vascular anastomoses.
  
  
  METHODS
  The vascular surgical techniques performed simultaneously on pigs were: enlargement prosthetic angioplasty, abdominal aortic interposition graft and aortoiliac bypass. The endpoints of the study were the surgical skills and the technical quality, assessed on a scale ranging from 1 (satisfactory) to 3 (very good) for our participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant improvement in vascular surgical skills tasks was observed during the study years and we also found a significant statistical association between the quality of the suture and the surgical technique used (Kendall coefficient=0.71, p=0.001<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our course contributed to the improvement of the technical vascular surgical skills of the operator teams, reproducing in vivo, in pigs, the intraoperative environment of human patients.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of General Surgery, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stancu
authors.affiliation: 4th Clinical Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Florin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beteg
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of General Surgery, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Aurel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mironiuc
authors.affiliation: 4th Clinical Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Aurel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muste
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of General Surgery, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gherman
keywords: Vascular surgery training; aortoiliac pathology; quality of vascular suture