HystSurg Mentorship Program

September 17, 2025

Delta Bessborough Hotel

CanSAGE is excited to announce its second preconference workshop for General Gynecologists. HystSurg Mentorship program was designed to keep the momentum going from the highly successful EndoSurg program that was launched in 2024. HystSurg will be held in conjunction with the annual CanSAGE conference from September 18-20, 2025 in Saskatoon, the city that shines! 

The focus of the HystSurg course is to improve Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy skill set with a focus on laparoscopic suturing of the vaginal vault, handling of advanced bipolar vessel sealing devices, approaches to a difficult TLH, and tissue extraction. 

We are seeking 12 motivated and passionate Canadian Gynecologic surgeons who are interested in developing and enhancing their clinical and surgical skills to offer the best in contemporary laparoscopic gynecologic care. 

These individuals should not be MIS-fellowship trained and already practice laparoscopy as part of their clinical practice.    

This course combines not simply a one day offering of lectures and hands-on experience but a commitment to learning over an entire year with ongoing surgical support and coaching through a MIGS mentor.   

The course is designed to address the pre-operative assessment of patients pursuing TLH, appropriate patient selection, OR positioning & equipment, surgical pearls, and most importantly hands-on practice with a high fidelity laparoscopic “vaginal cuff” model, various advanced bipolar devices, and tissue extraction models. It targets individuals who want to learn TLH for the very first time, improve basic TLH skills and refine a laparoscopic suturing skill set.

Program

Selected candidates will meet on September 17, 2025 at the conference centre in Saskatoon, SK. They will attend a morning of high yield and focused lectures from our teaching faculty, with learning objectives designed to be applicable to the Gynecologist already in practice. Our faculty are recognized nationally and internationally as expert laparoscopic surgeons: 

• Dr. Ally Murji, Toronto, Ontario 
• Dr. Karine Lortie, Ottawa, Ontario 
• Dr. Chandrew Rajakumar, Calgary, Alberta 
• Dr. Jessica Papillon-Smith, Montreal, Quebec 
• Dr. Darrien Rattray, Regina, Saskatchewan

The lectures will describe an entire patient care cycle including: 

• Review available medical options for preop optimization, including correction of iron deficiency anemia 
• Detailed steps of surgery including: patient positioning, uterine manipulation, tips for laparoscopic entry in challenging cases, port placement, choice of vessel sealer, discussion on approaches to enter the retroperitoneal space when necessary, ureterolysis, tips for colpotomy, and various laparoscopic cuff closure techniques 

The afternoon will include a lab component with hands-on practice of vault closure using a high fidelity simulation model AND tissue extraction / morcellation techniques for the larger pathologies. Various closure techniques including barbed sutures and intracorporeal knot tying will be practiced.  Stations will also be set up to practice with / compare / contrast the various available advanced vessel sealing technologies. Feedback will be provided from the same teaching faculty who presented the morning lectures. We will provide the laparoscopic box trainers, instruments and simulation models.
A dinner will be held on the same day of the course for ongoing networking and socializing.  

Mentorship

Each mentee will be paired with a MIS Fellowship-trained surgical coach. Over the months following the HystSurg the mentee is expected to apply some of the new knowledge they have gained in the operating room. Using their respective laparoscopic tower’s video capture recording device, the mentee will record about 20 minutes of their surgical cases for TLH which will be reviewed by the mentee and surgical coach independently followed by a combined debrief session for feedback. The surgical coach and mentee will arrange for at least two video debriefing sessions over the next 6 months and review together simultaneously over Zoom.
Pairing of the surgical coaches and mentees will take place during a dedicated session during the CanSAGE Annual Conference.  

Cost

There is no cost associated for the course, dinner or with this mentorship program.
The mentee is required to be registered for the CanSAGE Annual Conference in Saskatoon and will be responsible for registration, travel and hotel costs.  

CME

Details to come. 

Mentee selection

The mentees will be required to register for the 2025 CanSAGE Annual Conference, and during the registration process, will self-identify as interested in participating in the 2025 HystSurg Mentorship program.  

The candidates / mentees will be selected by June 30th. In the event that there are more than 12 applicants, the mentees will be selected at random. In the event that there is insufficient interest in the mentorship program, it will be canceled. 

Mentee requirements

• Registration for 2025 CanSAGE Annual Conference by the deadline 
• Ability to attend the entire lecture and lab day on Sept 17, 2025 
• Commitment to completing the mentorship program. This requires a minimum of meeting the surgical coach virtually twice over the following 6 months to review surgical footage
• If your surgical coach is from the same city / province / area it is encouraged to try and arrange a time where the coach can act as a surgical assist and attend a “real-time” surgery with you
• Hospital privileges for TLH 
• Ability to record surgical footage with patient consent in the OR for review in the future. This is usually performed with a recording device directly connected to the laparoscopic tower, exported to a USB drive. Taking a video recording with a handheld phone would not be acceptable as the footage is insufficient for video review 
• Understanding of basic laparoscopic principles 
• Not MIS fellowship trained 

If you have any questions please contact: [email protected]