Congenital Cardiac Surgery Masterclass

A structured, stepwise approach to lesion-specific surgical education

This course aims at enabling the participants to gain insight in the interdisciplinary management of several important congenital cardiac lesions, through live simulation of cardiac congenital interdisciplinary team (IDT) discussion, and the practice of hands-on surgical repair.

Each module follows a consistent progression, from clinical presentation through imaging review, decision-making, where In-depth anatomical and imaging understanding are directed at surgical repair. Surgical training is enhanced by the practice of surgical procedures on real patient-based customised 3D cardiac models, fully explorable and operable, using the standard surgical techniques and instrumentation. The experience is enhanced by the real-life simulation of a surgical session, including the intervention of Southampton University Hospital scrub team.

Day 1

Emphasis is placed on the presentation of the lesions included in the program, their clinical-imaging correlates and the surgical solutions available. The afternoon session will see the participants engage in live IDT discussions on real cases, enabling the application of the information acquired in the morning to clinical-surgical decision making.

Day 2

Clinical cases are presented to introduce the surgical sessions on ASD, VSD and Tetralogy of Fallot repair. Surgeries will be conducted by the delegates from surgery and nursing, assisted on a one-to-one basis by our surgical mentors. Each delegate will be able to perform each surgical repair.

During the surgical session which continue in the afternoon, participants to day two will be able to engage in small seminars with our consultant cardiologists and radiologists for an in-depth review of advanced imaging and virtual reality technology, including advanced echocardiography, cardiac CT, cardiac MRI and 3D modelling.

Day 3

Clinical cases are presented to introduce the surgical sessions on Coarctation of aorta, Arterial switch operation and surgery for single ventricle, including bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt – BCPS (the ‘Glenn procedure’), and extracardiac total cavopulmonary connection – TCPC (the ‘Fontan operation’). Surgeries will be conducted by the delegates from surgery and nursing, assisted on a one-to-one basis by our surgical mentors. Each delegate will be able to perform each surgical repair.