Laparotomy Model

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Laparotomy Model

• Southern Illinois University
• School of Medicine
• Janet Ketchum, Surgical Skills Lab Coordinator/
  Coach
• Jennifer Bartlett, Surgical Skills Lab Specialist

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1) Start with one Laser Paper Box (8 ½ x 11
paper size) which are readily available in most
offices. Our boxes were donated by a local office
store.
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2) Cut an opening (6 width x 9 length) in the
top of the box lid

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3) Place some sort of foam material inside the
box to build up the inside. We used a foam head
rest which we received as a donation from the OR.
In the center we placed a stick on plastic hook
so the resident could practice their deep ties at
a later time. you may want to reduce the box
height by cutting off the sides of the box
evenly. This will keep the box from being too
tall and too deep.
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4) Place some bubble wrap over the foam which
will represent the abdominal viscera. balloons
have also been used.
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5) Take yellow fabric, which can be purchased at
any fabric store, and create vessels using a red
fabric paint that comes in a squeeze bottle.
Allow paint to dry and place it over the bubble
wrap to represent the omentum.
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6) The Peritoneum is created by placing Glad
Press Seal Wrap over the box (cling side
facing up) and then covering it with an ioban
surgical drape.
7) The ioban should be larger then the Glad wrap
so it will stick taut to the box. Staples can be
added to secure it if needed.
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8) To make the Rectus Abdominis muscle and
Subcutaneous fat, we purchased ½ inch foam from
Hancock Fabrics. We could not find it in in
colors, so we used Rit Fabric Dye to make it red
yellow. (The foam was dyed in large pieces in a
sink, then squeezed out and allowed to dry for 24
hours. We were able to dye enough foam to make at
least 20 models per one box of dye) we also found
that red felt material and beige foam can also be
used to avoid the dying process.
9) The anterior Rectus Sheath/ Linea
Alba the posterior Rectus Sheath can be created
using a stretchy cotton fabric or a packing foam
sheet. The fabric can be purchased at a fabric
store and the foam can be found wherever they
sell packing materials like an office supply
store. A material called baby dry which is used
for crib mattresses works well also. We did find
that the cotton fabric did not cut as well with a
10 blade as the foam, and the baby dry cut and
sutured the best of the three.
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9) Glue the red foam to the white foam (or
fabric) to secure it. A hot glue gun can be used
as well as fabric glue.
10) Place some glue in a thin line on the white
foam (or fabric) near the red sections. Also
place glue on the top of the red foam near the
middle section as pictured above.
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11) Place the second piece of white fabric (or
foam) on top and push down in the center to allow
the glue to adhere.
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12) Place a thin line of glue towards the middle
of the white foam (or fabric) on both sides of
the center line and place the yellow foam on top.
Secure all pieces together with staples on the
edges or additional glue.
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13) Use glue or hot glue around the edges and
towards the center of the yellow foam. Cut a
piece of tan foam fabric (large enough to hang
over box edges) and place on top of the yellow
foam to represent the skin. This fabric was also
purchased at Hancock Fabrics. You can secure
the fabric to the box by stapling the edges
before putting on the lid, but this is not
necessarily needed if the lid fits tightly.
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14) Place the lid on top and draw the umbilicus
with a fabric marker. A self adhesive surgical
drape can be added to cover up the box edges and
give an operative feel if desired.
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Foam represents fascia in this model
Fabric was used in this model for fascia
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At SIU, we have tried to represent the abdominal
structures as correctly as possible when
developing our laparotomy model, but our main
objective is to teach our residents the multiple
steps of Laparotomy excision and closure.