TissueDB/Materials/Plastic Sheet
Plastic Sheet is the class of thin, flexible sheet materials used in surgical simulation as skin, membrane and outer-layer stand-ins. It covers four sheet families: vinyl (polyvinyl chloride, PVC — a synthetic plastic sheeting sold as vinyl sheet or PVC sheet); polyurethane (PU) sheet; rubber sheet, natural or synthetic (neoprene rubber, nitrile, EPDM); and thin latex sheet — natural latex, also sold as latex rubber, the elastic sheet form made from the sap of the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). A membrane here means a sheet thin enough to stretch and hold a suture without a backing layer. Sold as: vinyl sheet, PVC sheet, polyurethane sheet, rubber sheet, latex sheet and natural rubber latex — from craft, fabric, hardware and upholstery suppliers. Work it by cutting to size with scissors or a rotary cutter and layering it as an outermost skin or a suspended membrane; cut about 1 cm larger than the opening it covers so the edges can be secured. Caveat — latex allergy: natural rubber latex can cause allergic reactions in sensitised people; screen participants and offer a latex-free alternative (nitrile, vinyl or silicone) where latex allergy is a concern. Coated fabric is a separate class: a sheet with a textile backing under the film — rexine, vinyl fabric, faux leather, pleather — belongs to Coated Fabric; this page is for sheet with no fibres under it. Where a build names only "vinyl" and its source does not say whether there is a backing, it stays here. Tubing is a separate class: latex, vinyl and PVC are also sold as hollow tube, and those builds belong to Plastic Tubing — the form is the class, the wall material is secondary. Gloves are a separate class: a ready-made glove used as a membrane, sac or vessel belongs to Glove, including where it is cut flat and pasted over an opening.
Tissues
| Tissue | Visual | Tactile | Simulator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skin | Appendectomy Simulator, Open Appendectomy Simulator (Matthews) | As vinyl (PVC) sheet — the outermost skin layer of a layered abdominal-wall model, cut about 1 cm larger than the container on all sides so the edges can be clipped and secured. In the Appendectomy Simulator the vinyl is cut 1 cm larger than the top of the 10 × 10 × 20 cm plastic container on all four sides, assembled coloured-side-down, and then used as the template for every layer beneath it.[1] In the Open Appendectomy Simulator (Matthews) it is the outermost of an eight-layer abdominal-wall analogue, each layer cut approximately 1 cm larger than the edges of the plastic container on all sides.[2] | ||
| Cooper's Ligament | Laparoscopic Inguinal Hernioplasty TAPP 3D Simulator (Pires de Melo Filho) | As synthetic rubber — fixed very close to the hernial defect on the 3D-printed pelvis to stand in for Cooper's ligament, chosen because it is firm enough to hold stapler tackers so the mesh can be fixed as in the real procedure. The source names the material only as "synthetic rubber" and does not state its form or thickness, so no sheet gauge is given here.[3] | ||
| (Structural — wound debris, a foreign body, not tissue simulant) | UGHE Low-Cost Soft-Tissue Simulation Module | As vinyl pieces set into the cuts of the large sponge that forms the wound-debridement model, standing in for debris inside the wound that the trainee must remove. This is the one sheet-material role on this page that mimics no tissue: the source assigns the vinyl no tissue and gives it no dimension, thickness or gauge, only its function and its cost - US$0.04 per model in Rwanda.[4] | ||
| Skin | — | As neoprene sheet (polychloroprene, a synthetic rubber) — the instrument surface of a laparoscopic box trainer. Published home-built trainers make holes in the box lid and patch them with circular pieces of neoprene so laparoscopic instruments can be inserted through them,[5] and an upgraded version of the same design adds a neoprene-trocar interface.[6] On commercial box trainers, neoprene is the standard sheet that encloses the simulated abdominal cavity.[7] |
Troubleshooting
- Incision and cutting practice — Rubber and latex sheet do not cut like tissue and give an unrealistic resistance to a blade. Use a castable silicone or a gelatin block where the training goal is the incision itself.
- Suture holding under tension — Some rubber and thin latex sheet tears around suture holes when the line is put under tension. Test suture retention on an offcut before the session rather than during it.
- Latex-allergic participants — Screen participants; substitute vinyl, nitrile or silicone sheet, which serve the same layering role without the allergy risk.
- Ageing stock — Natural rubber and latex sheet yellow, harden and lose elasticity with UV and ozone exposure; a brittle sheet will split rather than stretch. Store flat and dark, and replace perished stock.
References
[edit source]- ↑ ASAP (AMPATH Surgical App) team. Instructions to Build your Model, ASAP Syllabus. Global Surgical Training Challenge. ASAP build instructions. Not indexed in PubMed; primary source linked directly.
- ↑ Matthews J, Bhatia MB, Thomas C, Okoth P, Martinez CR, Levy JS, Stefanidis D, Hunter-Squires JL, Saruni SI. AMPATH surgical app: Low-cost simulator for the open appendectomy. Surgery 2022;172(6):1656-1664. DOI: 10.1016/j.surg.2022.07.023. PMID: 36123174.
- ↑ Pires de Melo Filho L, Mano Almeida A, Marcal de Barros Filho E, de Oliveira Borges GC. Simulated training model in a low cost for laparoscopic inguinal hernioplasty. Acta Cirurgica Brasileira 2021;36(1):e360108. DOI: 10.1590/ACB360108. PMID: 33605310. PMC: PMC7892193. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
- ↑ Wittenberg RE, Bryce-Alberti M, Shimelash NZ, Masimbi O, Kratky LE, Thompson AA, et al. Low-cost simulation models for soft-tissue procedures for medical student education in Rwanda. BMC Medical Education 2025;25(1):1271. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-025-07910-4. PMID 41034833. PMC PMC12487576. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
- ↑ Khine M, Leung E, Morran C, Muthukumarasamy G. Homemade laparoscopic simulators for surgical trainees. Clin Teach. 2011 Jun;8(2):118-21. doi:10.1111/j.1743-498X.2011.00441.x. PMID 21585673.
- ↑ Smith MD, Norris JM, Kishikova L, Smith DP. Laparoscopic simulation for all: two affordable, upgradable, and easy-to-build laparoscopic trainers. J Surg Educ. 2013 Mar-Apr;70(2):217-23. doi:10.1016/j.jsurg.2012.11.005. PMID 23427967.
- ↑ Hull L, Kassab E, Arora S, Kneebone R. Increasing the realism of a laparoscopic box trainer: a simple, inexpensive method. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A. 2010 Jul-Aug;20(6):559-62. doi:10.1089/lap.2010.0069. PMID 20687817.
| Authors | Arturopelayo |
|---|---|
| License | CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
| Cite as | Arturopelayo (2026). "TissueDB/Materials/Plastic Sheet". Appropedia. Retrieved August 12, 2026. |