Surgeons can practice with a “degree of realism that is very close to reality”
The Algarve’s new Surgical Simulation Centre is fully operational in Loulé, the Algarve Biomedical Centre has announced.
Since the start of April, the centre is already being used by future surgeons to train safely and by current surgeons to refine their techniques.
The project received around €2.8 million in European Union funding through the CRESC Algarve 2020 programme to help bring the centre to life.
“The idea was to develop a centre for experimental surgery and intensive care, therefore, supporting research and promoting the capacity for innovation and scientific development in clinical practice,” the president of the Algarve Biomedical Centre, Pedro Castelo-Branco, said in a statement.
Clinical practice and training at the centre will cover areas such as urology, general surgery, colorectal surgery, among other specialties.
“For this purpose, future or young doctors at the beginning of their careers, or surgeons who want to refine their techniques, have at their disposal the most advanced technology, such as inanimate models – the word inimate may not be the best, since the bodies on the stretchers react almost as if they were real: they suffocate, choke, etc. -, virtual models, and even 3D,” the ABC statement says.
The surgery simulation centre is also equipped with “state-of-the-art surgical equipment for laparoscopic surgery, which is used for operations such as the removal of an appendix in the case of appendicitis, or a cholecystectomy which consists of the removal of the gallbladder, and which are performed with a degree of realism provided by the machine that is very close to reality,” the biomedical centre explains.
The project was led by ABC in partnership with the University of the Algarve and the Algarve University Hospital Centre (CHUA). Since its opening, the centre has been used by trainee doctors from the university and the region’s public hospitals, although ABC stresses that it has the “potential to be attractive to national and foreign specialists.”
