Although training using live animals, such as pigs or dogs, has been performed for many years, it has become difficult in recent years due to restrictive legislation, public concern about the use of animals for training, and economic reasons. Professor Buess and his colleagues at the University of Germany have developed a special trainer for providing training in both basic and advanced laparoscopic surgery. More than 3000 surgeons have been trained in this centre at Tuebingen and recently they have set up similar centers in Havana, Cuba and AIIMS, New Delhi, India.
The Tuebingen MIC-Trainer was developed in cooperation with Richard Wolf GmbH (Knittlingen, Germany). This new trainer consists of four parts: fluid reservoir, dorsal abdominal form, abdominal wall and neoprene cover . The form of this trainer was copied from a human body with gas insufflation; abdominal organs from the slaughterhouse can be integrated into this trainer. Surgeons can repeat operations such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy, appendectomy, fundoplication, colon resection and transanal endoscopic microsurgery in a realistic way and acquire a training effect in a short time.
