title: Benefits and Pitfalls of Cadavers as Learning Tool for Ultrasound-guided Regional Anesthesia.
abstract: Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (UGRA), like other basic skills, should be learnt in a simulation laboratory before performing on the patient. Cadavers provide an ideal tool for learning sonoanatomy and skills required for performing UGRA. On the basis of preservation technique used, the cadavers can be formalin embalmed cadavers, Thiel cadavers (soft cadavers), and fresh frozen cadavers. We compared three types of cadavers for performing ultrasound-guided upper and lower limb blocks. We observed that fresh frozen and Thiel cadavers were less smelling and had more realistic appearance as compared to formalin embalmed cadavers. It was seen that Thiel cadavers were more flexible and hence, rotation of neck, shoulder and knee was easier. Although images seen in most cadavers were comparable with live subjects but, Thiel cadavers provided more realistic model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Pain Medicine and Critical Care, JPN Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Chhavi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sawhney
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, JPN Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lalwani
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Pain Medicine and Critical Care, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Bikash Ranjan
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosugery, JPN Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Sumit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Pain Medicine and Critical Care, JPN Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Abhyuday
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
keywords: Cadaver; Thiel cadaver; ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia