A Review of Common Thoracic Surgical Procedures For The Nuclear Medicine Physician Utilizing Simple Unique Clay Models

Objectives: Review of nuclear medicine procedures requires a review of patient history and an understanding of the patient's thoracic, abdominal and pelvic surgeries to render an appropriate diagnosis. Resident and attending reviewers may not be familiar with certain surgical procedures which can result in limitations of study evaluation. Although these procedures can be subsequently reviewed in a textbook, this may still not clearly show the details of these procedures. We demonstrate a variety of common surgical procedures using simple clay models. The models can be created by the resident as a teaching tool to utilized as an inexpensive, simple 3D didactic model to demonstrate surgical concepts for the nuclear physician.

Methods: We demonstrate a variety of surgical procedures using simple clay models to help the nuclear physician in the understanding of surgical procedures they may encounter on daily reading of nuclear medicine cases. The clay models are especially useful when interpreting various PET/CT studies and SPECT/CT studies. The process of creating these models allows the resident to be immersed in a virtual environment to enhance the learning experience. They create an overall sense of reality and inspire the imagination.

Results: Residents and attendings who create various surgeries using clay models result in better understanding of various surgical procedures due to the process of active learning while working with 3D models. There is increased retention due to a focused attention and visual stimulation. An improved understanding leads to more accurate and detailed nuclear medicine reports. Understanding these surgeries with clay models also allows an improved understanding of the possible surgical complications. We discuss a variety of surgical procedures with clay models including the Ivor-Lewis procedure, roux en y, whipple procedure, Billroth 1 and 2 procedures, various pelvic surgeries, etc.

Conclusions: A clear understanding of various surgical procedures of the chest, abdomen and pelvis can provide the nuclear medicine reader with knowledge for improved and more accurate reporting of cases. We demonstrate with simple 3D clay models a variety of common surgeries which may be encountered during daily readouts of cases. This tool can lead to improved understanding and retention of information for all members of the nuclear medicine care team. They are an inexpensive simple method of instruction providing a unique teaching tool to the department.