The importance of the technical staff involved in the surgical, maintenance and animal care procedures can not be overly stressed. Not only are the training and skill of these staff of the utmost importance but also their professional experience and personal preferences.

Different laboratories often have varying levels of success using the exact same apparatus and procedures as a result. Maintaining a staff that is dedicated to performing infusion related surgery and procedures is very difficult in laboratories studies that do not run these studies on a regular basis. Many animal suppliers now help eliminate the surgical burden by offering pre-cannulated animals that can be used in many infusion and sampling related situations. Adherence to aseptic technique is the best way to avoid infections both at surgery and during catheters maintenance procedures. Infections that result from surgery will usually become apparent within days of the procedure. Bacterial contamination of catheters or ports which exhibit themselves after 14 days are generally the result of poor maintenance habits. Local infections that can result in abscess and/or erosion at the subcutaneous implantation site (and potential colonization of the internal catheter and reservoir) are often due to poor aseptic technique during “flushing” and “locking” procedures.

At SAI we do not believe in “fixing what’s not broken”. We do believe in building on the current foundation of technology and understanding to improve the quality of research that involves preclinical infusion. SAI has experienced scientists and surgeons on hand to help with technical, procedural and surgical training to ensure that the system you choose will work in your research setting.