Simulation-based learning is beneficial in training healthcare professionals how to conduct a variety of specific procedures [1]. Medical simulators offer a greater availability than patient cases, with lower costs, greater anatomical accuracy, and less ethical debate than induced animal models. The incidence of myelomeningocele (spina bifida cystica), a common severe congenital neural tube malformation, has been declining due to prenatal folic acid supplementation [2]; however, it continues to emerge with an unknown etiology [3]. To help ensure that neurosurgery residents can be trained to correct this defect despite the declining incidence, we have designed and fabricated a surgical simulation model.
Myelomeningocele is characterized by incomplete closure of the embryonic neural tube resulting in herniation of the meninges and spinal cord through an abnormal opening in the spinal canal and vertebrae. An external sac filled with cerebrospinal fluid forms in the meningeal membrane around the...
