Sheet Plastination as a Clinically Based Teaching Aid at the University of Auckland

Abstract

As a concerted move toward closer integration of the clinical and preclinical aspects of the undergraduate medical curriculum at the University of Auckland, the Department of Anatomy with Radiology has implemented a number of clinical procedures, pathological observations and diagnostic methods into the course resulting in a structured program of clinically based teaching of gross anatomy to second- and third-year medical students. The recently developed method of El2 epoxy resin sheet plastination of sectioned cadaver specimens has expanded the learning process twofold, firstly as a developmental microscopy teaching aid enabling us to link histological slides directly to gross anatomical specimens and secondly as a radiographic training tool in the correlation of clinical imaging techniques of magnetic resonance (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) with the teaching of gross anatomy. The direct comparison between El2 serial sectioned cadaver specimens and the equivalent MRI and CT images provides the student with a much clearer understanding of anatomical structures in relation to clinical diagnosis.

Browsing software of the Visible Korean data used for teaching sectional anatomy

“…In addition, the cadaver sections or their permanent specimens can be damaged or lost. Moreover, they are not always accessible (Cook, 1997;Weiglein, 1997;Hwang et al, 2006;Gould et al, 2008). In a photo atlas of sectional anatomy, thin structures (e.g., a coronary artery) in contiguous sections are very difficult to follow due to a limited number of views.…”

Method for preparing permanent brain slices and serial slice images for education and MRI correlation

“…If quality is the only consideration in making permanent brain slices, plastination method may be used. For plastination, water of brain slices should be dehydrated at low temperatures, fat should be eliminated at room temperature, and plastic should be penetrated using a vac- uum (Cook, 1997;Weiglein, 1997). This plastination method needs expensive equipments and reagents, difficult techniques, and extraordinary amount of time.…”

Three‐dimensional reconstruction of the ankle by means of ultrathin slice plastination

“…The main steps for this method are preparing thin slices of the desired specimen, cold dehydration, degreasing, impregnation, and finally curing (von Hagens, 1986;Lane, 1990;Weber and Henry, 1993;Cook, 1996;Cook and Al-Ali, 1997;Fasel et al, 1988;An and Zhang, 1999;Sora et al, 2002;Sora et al, 2004). Ultrathin slice plastination produces slices with a thickness of 1 mm down to 0.3 mm (Johnson et al, 2000;Windisch and Weiglein, 2001).…”