Traditionally, cadaver dissection and didactic lectures have formed the mainstay of teaching gross anatomy, but, apathy of the learners toward didactic lectures and reduction in the time allotted for teaching anatomy have necessitated adoption of interactive teaching methods that require lesser student contact time. In this study, for two consecutive years, first-year medical students were taught selected gross anatomy topics using Interactive Lecture in the Dissection Hall (ILDH). Instead of discarding the traditional methods, ILDH combined the two into a single, cohesive, interactive session, to teach the topic through multiple, short, segments of lecture alternating with interactive demonstration on the specimen. This method emerged by combining the insight gained from the newer teaching methods and reasoning from the cognitive load theory and contiguity principle. Students' performance after ILDH was assessed by a test and was compared with the performance after conventional method of teaching. Students' perception toward ILDH was assessed by a questionnaire. Students perceived that ILDH not only helped them in understanding the concepts better (97.7%), but, was also a better learning experience (99.2%). Majority felt that ILDH should be made an integral part of teaching anatomy (97.7%). Students' performance in the test after the unified approach of ILDH was significantly better than with the split-source format of conventional methods. Students' satisfaction, improved scores, and time efficiency indicate that ILDH may be an optimum method for teaching selected topics in anatomy.

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During routine dissection of a 65 year old male cadaver, an unusual muscle was found on the right side of the neck. The aberrant muscle had a common origin with sternothyroid. Its distal end was a fleshy belly attached to the posterior aspects of manubrium sternum and medial end of first costal cartilage. The muscle ascended in supero-lateral direction crossing anterior to the common carotid artery and ascended as a slender tendon along the anterior wall of carotid sheath. In the middle third of the neck, it was accompanied by descendens hypoglossi. The tendon merged with the anterior wall of the carotid sheath in the upper part of the neck and was not discernible as a separate entity. Along with the carotid sheath, it was inserted to the base of the skull.Developmentally, the muscle appears to be the separated fibres from stylohyoid and sternohyoid line (supra-and infra-hyoid muscles) that has lost its intermittent attachment to hyoid bone. Based on its attachments, the muscle can assist sternocleidomastoid in ipsilateral tilting of the head. As the muscle was found to be crossing in front of the common carotid artery, the contraction of this muscle could compress the artery resulting in clinical symptoms. The opposite side of the neck did not show similar muscle. We did not find similar case reported in the literature.

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