A randomised controlled trial comparing meat-based with human cadaveric models for teaching ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia

Abstract

The aim of this prospective, blinded, randomised controlled study was to compare novices' acquisition of the technical skills of ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia using either a meat phantom model or fresh-frozen human cadavers. The primary outcome was the time taken to successfully perform an ultrasound-guided sciatic nerve block on a cadaver; secondary outcomes were the cumulative score of errors, and best image quality of the sciatic nerve achieved. After training, the median (IQR [range]) time taken to perform the block was 311(164–390 [68–600]) s in the meat model trained group and 210 (174–354 [85–600]) s in the fresh-frozen cadaver trained group (p = 0.24). Participants made a me..