3D Printed Anatomical Teaching Material ‐ A Genuine Alternative?

Whilst many medical schools, universities and teaching institutions charged with the task of teaching anatomy to medical students and allied health professionals have access to human cadaver material some cannot access this resource for a number of reasons. Use of human cadavers in teaching involves special ethical and legal considerations as well as resources or facilities that have an inherent, often hidden cost. In many countries cultural and religious factors also act as an impediment to cadaver‐based anatomy teaching. At Monash University, faced with ever expanding student loads, we were faced with a need for large numbers of anatomy prosections however problems of cost and the lack of our own donor bequest program meant that alternatives had to be considered. To address this issue we developed several methods of capturing surface topography and internal structural features from existing cadaver prosections and converting them into 3D printable files with high fidelity colour and resolution. The ‘Monash 3D Printed Human Anatomy Series’ now consists of over fifty 3D prints that display normal human anatomy ranging from orbital dissections to full dissected torsos. The 3D prints can be scaled up or down in size to suit specific needs. The 3D prints have been successfully integrated into our teaching programs and a double blind randomized controlled trial has shown their effectiveness against cadaveric materials for learning cardiac anatomy. One of the principle motivations for the creation of the 3D printed series was to give institutions that do not have cadaver access an alternative teaching resource beyond the currently available stylized plastic anatomical models and the expensive plastinated cadaver material that had none of the ethical issues associated with the latter. An example of the use of the 3D printed series in a medical school in The Republic of Liberia, West Africa, will be shown to illustrate how laboratory style anatomy teaching can be achieved in a country where exposure to cadavers has very specific health risks for staff and students. Recent research on the use of multicolour/multimaterial 3D printing of anatomical preparations will be illustrated as will preliminary data on the use of 3D printing to reproduce rare human pathological specimens. Support or Funding Information Monash University and Eric Glasgow Memorial Fund