Survival Surgery in Research Animals

Research investigators must adhere to the following points when conducting survival surgery on animals at PSU:

1. Use aseptic technique for all survival surgery.
2. Keep clear written records of the surgery and postoperative care.
3. Monitor the animals until they have recovered from anesthesia and at least daily thereafter until the surgical wound is healed.
4. Provide analgesic medication to relieve post-procedural pain.
5. Personnel performing surgery must have completed all required training.

Personnel must complete the following training requirements prior to performing rodent surgical procedures at PSU:

1. View the NIH "Training in Survival Rodent Surgery" cd and read the accompanying Rodent Survival Surgery document.
2. Read the IACUC Guideline on Rodent Survival Surgery.
3. Complete and return the ARP Survival Surgery quiz with a score of 100%.
4. Discuss your surgical protocal with an ARP veterinarian.
5. Get additional training from experienced personnel.

Recommendations for Learning a New Surgical Procedure

1. Familiarize yourself with the relevant anatomy of the species you will be using.
2. Observe an experienced surgeon perform the procedure.
3. Develop your technique first using cadaver animals.
4. If available, practice the procedure on anesthetized animals that will be euthanized before recovery from anesthesia.
5. It is not recommended that you try to obtain experimental data from practice or training animals.

Record Keeping

Investigators are responsible for maintaining accurate records of anesthesia, surgery and postoperative care (including analgesic administration). Note: In the event of a health or welfare concern when the investigator is not available, records of surgery and postoperative care must be readily available to the veterinary staff (either in the animal's room or in an accessible area nearby).

In addition to providing a valuable record of experimental procedures that may be referred to at a later date, surgical records serve as documentation that the procedures were conducted humanely and by appropriately trained individuals.

Individual records are not necessary for groups of rodents treated similarly. Individual records must be maintained for nonrodent species.

Rodent surgical records must include:

• The name of the surgeon and the date surgery was performed.
• Animal identification i.e., number or group name.
• A description of the surgical procedure(s) conducted. Note: A complete description of the procedure is not necessary for every record. The name of the surgical procedure is sufficient when the identical procedure is performed on multiple animals provided that an SOP (standard operating procedure) describing the procedure is readily available.
• Name(s), dosage(s) and route(s) of anesthetic and analgesic agents administered.
• Names and dosages of experimental agents administered.
• Post-operative monitoring that indicates daily observation and health status.
• Medical treatments administered during or after surgery.

A sample surgery record for a rodent surgical procedure follows:

Regulatory Definitions Related to Research Animal Surgery

Survival verses non-survival surgery

• In a survival surgery the animal is expected to recover from the procedure.
• Aseptic technique must be used.
• Postoperative analgesia should be provided unless there is scientific justification as to why it can not be used.
• In a non-survival procedure, aseptic technique is not critical. However, good judgement should be used to determine if contamination during surgery would impact experimental results.

Major verses Minor procedures

• Multiple major survival procedures on the same animal are not allowed.. They may be permitted under some circumstances if scientifically justified and approved by the IACUC.
• Minor procedures do not expose a body cavity and cause little or no physical impairment.
• Major procedures expose a body cavity or produce substantial impairment of physical or physiologic functions.