The TOP-Course: Hands-on experience for transplant trainees

By: Simon Knight | Posted on: 10th October 2012

I recently had the opportunity to attend the TOP-Course (Transplant Operative Procedures), a course for transplant and urology trainees run in Germany twice a year. Participants at the five day course receive both theoretical and hands-on training in kidney and liver-transplantation and multi-oragn retrieval techniques, as well as some valuable experience in anaesthesia for those interested in large-animal work. The course is great value for money, currently costing just 700 euros which includes transfers to and from the airport, accommodation, meals and all materials.

Top course logo

This definately goes down as one of the best courses I have ever been on. There is no substitute in surgery to hands-on experience, and the four full days of operating that the course provides allows the trainees the opportunities to attempt procedures that they may not get in their everyday practice in a relaxed, pressure-free environment. The tutors (Jens Brockmann, Felix Braun et al.) are enthusiastic and provide great tips to improve technique. The organisation of the course by Sabine Köhler is also first-rate, with as much fun had away from the operating room as in it!

I would highly recommend this course to all transplant trainees, and in fact this has now become part of the ESOT educational program.


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