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Plastinated Human Samples Are Efficient Tools In Anatomy Teaching

Most of the medical schools in the United States teach human anatomy using cadavers and/or collections of human organs and tissues stored in preservatives. Cadaveric dissections engage students in learning anatomy with real human samples and also provide them an opportunity to use their hands managing surgical tools and some surgical procedures. However, cadaveric dissection could be time‐consuming and may conflict with the current tendency of reducing contact hours in medical school curricula, particularly in gross anatomy teaching. Maintaining cadavers, organs and tissues require special space and additional time of management. Computer aided 3‐D technology as a complementary element to facilitate anatomy learning brings students a wealth of data in a short period of time. Especially, the deepest structures can be easily shown on computers (Apps). However, one major concern from students is that they are not able to recognize these structures in human bodies because “they look different to Atlas/Apps”. In this study, we aim to provide a novel approach in teaching gross anatomy. At UTRGV SOM, we equipped our anatomy lab with plastinated human samples. Plastination is a preservation technique in which polymers are used in substituting formaldehyde to fix tissues. Plastinates are dry, long‐lasting, and odorless. Students save time studying plastinates as opposed to working on cadaver dissections. In addition, exposures to possible toxic chemicals is limited to a low level while working with plastinates. Furthermore, plastinates could accurately reveal structures and structural relationships in comparison with 3‐D technology. However, due to the restriction of the techniques, plastinates are rigid and do not allow learners to investigate hidden structures and several plastinates with different preparations are required to serve the need of the demonstration from different aspects. In conclusion, from our experience, plastinates could be a novel approach to replace traditional cadaver dissection in teaching first‐ and second‐year medical students’ human anatomy. Using plastinates, our students benefit from real human sample experience and efficient content learning.