A Simple and Practical Amniocentesis Model and the Procedure Success Rate After Training

Abstract

Objective: To compare success rate of amniocentesis between model trained and non-model trained groups.
Methods: Siriraj amniocentesis simulator was practiced by 5 inexperienced obstetric residents. Forty aspirations of red solution from the targeted balloons using spinal needle number 20-G under the ultrasound guidance were performed. Thereafter, each trainee was allowed to perform the real amniocentesis under an expert supervision within a 5-minute period. Amniocentesis success rate of previous 5 non-model trained residents was retrospectively reviewed and considered as the control group.
Results: A comparison between each group was done to evaluate the success rate. There were 31 and 29 of amniocenteses performed by model trained and non-model trained groups, respectively.  In comparison, the former had a non-significantly higher success rate (96.8% vs 82.2%; p > 0.05) with a significantly shorter operating time (34.27 + 21.7 vs 73.38 + 68.5 seconds; p < 0.05) than the latter. No obstetric adverse outcome was observed in both groups.
Conclusion:  The amniocentesis-training program with model is beneficial for the beginners to develop their skill prior to the real practice, especially shorter operating time. There was a trend of higher success rate in the model-training group.