Histopathological analysis of vascular malformations

OBJECTIVE

To propose and develop a histopathological criteria to help diagnose vascular malformations.

METHODS

All patients who underwent surgical resection and had a confirmed histopathological diagnosis of vascular malformations from 01 March 2018-26 February 2020 were included. A criteria based on 10 parameters was developed to help diagnose vascular malformations. Discrepancies between clinical and histopathological diagnosis were evaluated.

RESULTS

A total of 18 cases were identified. There was a discrepancy between the clinical diagnosis and the initially reported histopathological diagnosis in 16 cases (88.9%). This was reduced to 7 (38.9%) and 6 cases (33.3%) with first and second time revised histopathological analysis using proposed criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

The discrepancy between clinical and histopathological diagnoses of vascular malformations has highlighted the requirement of an agreed criteria for histopathologists to help formulate their diagnosis. The proposed criteria may be used as a guide in addressing this and guide treatment and improve clinical practice.

Objective assessment of skills acquisition during laparoscopic surgery courses

BACKGROUND

The aim of this prospective study is to objectively assess the acquisition of skills of trainees attending laparoscopic surgery courses.

METHODS

Thirty-four junior surgical trainees had their laparoscopic skills assessed before and after attending 1 of 3 separate runs of 3-day core skills in laparoscopic surgery course. Nine control trainees were also included who did not attend the course. Three virtual tasks (camera navigation, hand-eye coordination, and 2-handed maneuver) were used from a virtual reality simulator (Simbionix) for assessment. Camera navigation was assessed by completion time and maintenance of horizontal view, whereas the other 2 tasks were assessed by completion time, path length (both hands), and the number of movements (both hands). A composite score of overall performance was calculated by combining all the 12 parameters.

RESULTS

The course significantly (P < 0.001) improved 91% of the junior trainees' precourse laparoscopic skills. Around 70% to 85% of the participants had improvement in skills in all the parameters following the course. The significant improvements were seen in 10 out of 12 task-specific parameters (P ≤ .004) except path length of the left hand. No significant improvement in skills was seen in any 1 of the 12 parameters for the control participants except for a slight reduction in performance matrics. Foundation and core trainees had acquired significantly (P = .02) more skills (23% improvement) than the specialist trainees (8% improvement). Overall acquired skills did not differ significantly in terms of age, sex, or dominant hand of trainees.

CONCLUSION

Objective validated methods can be used to demonstrate course efficacy in addition to providing participants with an insight into their skills. Junior trainees with little or no previous experience benefit the most from such courses irrespective of their age, sex, and dominant hand.