Educational Advantages to the Use of Soft Fixed Cadavers

Conventional embalming techniques routinely rely on the use of aldehyde fixatives. The aldehydes keep bacteria in check and also cross link proteins together producing a firm specimen. The resultant specimens are stabilized and can be kept and used a room temperature for extended periods of time. This type of specimen has formed the backbone of most anatomy classes involving dissection. These specimens, however, are less than ideal for teaching true anatomy or most forms of surgery. That is because tissues are often accidentally destroyed during dissection and often times render planes of anatomy unidentifiable. They are also not pliable. Alternative fixative techniques have evolved over the last 40 years and have led the production of soft fixed cadavers. These specimens are produced with an embalming solution that minimizes the concentration of aldehydes, At Saint Louis University School of Medicine we have adopted this form of fixation to create surgical models. In this abstract we report the use of soft fixed cadavers to teach cricothyrotomy, laparoscopic cholectystectomy, laparoscopic appendectomy, hand assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy, thoracostomy, open nephrectomy, skin closure techniques, etc. The advantages to this technique is that the cadaver more closely mimics the experience that the trainee would encounter in a living human being. Also since they are not crosslinked, the anatomical planes are intact and more identifiable leading to a more credible experience. They are ideal models to simulate real surgery and we have used them to produce a series of videos for training purposes. A sample video will be shown during this poster presentation