Hand & Wrist Dissection Demonstration and Workshop using Thiel Cadavers

UDOTS Master of Orthopaedic Surgery (MCh Orth) students participated in a Hand & Wrist Dissection Demonstration and Workshop using Thiel Cadavers on the afternoon of Friday 26th March 2021.

This workshop, organised and run by Mr Arpit Jariwala (Consultant Upper Limb and Trauma Surgeon/Director of UDOTS), is held annually at the Centre for Anatomy & Human Identification (CAHID) at the main University Campus where students performed several cadaveric dissections under the direct supervision of Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons from NHS Tayside. Pairs of participants had a Thiel cadaver to themselves with faculty guiding them through various surgical techniques. Thiel embalmed cadavers are unique to the MCh (Orth) Dundee course, and afford a more realistic, moveable, and flexible cadaver that better simulates real-life surgery.

The workshop was dedicated to hand and wrist surgical approaches. For this session Mr Jariwala was joined by his colleagues Mr Douglas Robinson, Mr Simon Johnson and Ms Kirsty Munro.

Demonstrations for this session included: (1) Carpal tunnel decompression procedure (2) Extended carpal tunnel for revision cases (3) Trigger thumb/finger release (4) Flexor tendon in finger exposure with Brunner incision (5) FCR approach for distal radius fracture fixation (6) Volar approach for scaphoid surgery (7) Dorsal wrist approach for ganglion and carpal surgery (8) De Quervain’s tenosynovectomy exposure (9) Dorsal approach for trapeziectomy (10) UCL ligament of thumb exposure and demonstration of laxity on its division (11) Dorsal finger approach for tendon repair.

Mrs Sheila MacDonald (MCh Orth Course Administrator) with this year’s students.  Please note that due to strict adherence to Thiel copyright and legal agreement we are restricted as to what imagery we can show in the public domain. This photograph was taken in the lab room prior to the cadaveric session.

Mr Arpit Jariwala, Director of UDOTS and workshop convenor, stated:

“I'm indebted to all my NHS Tayside colleagues for their expert participation in making this workshop possible. It’s fantastic that we can provide such workshops during COVID restrictions and this is possible due to the hard work in following safety protocols at this time. I’d like to show my gratitude to all at CAHID who continue to support us by making the Thiel cadavers available for our workshops. Finally, I’d like to thank all those who generously bequeath their bodies to medical science for anatomical examination, education, training and research. Without these generous and forward-thinking individuals, surgical understanding and research continues to advance.”

WORKSHOP FEEDBACK

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Arpit Jariwala for incorporating Thiel cadaveric upper limb workshop and the NHS Tayside faculties enthusiasm in training. We were fortunate to get hands-on experience in all upper limb approaches while discussing the pros and cons of each individual approach, shoulder rotator cuff repair using suture anchors and tendon repair using different suturing techniques. I truly feel this workshop helped me to enhance my surgical skills.” 

“The Cadaveric workshop on Friday was an amazing learning experience and we MCh (Orth) students were blessed with wonderful teachers who taught us thoroughly the various procedures and structures in the upper limb.”