Dissecting a human cadaver for scientific or research purposes has been done in the Western world — on and off due to the occasional cultural ban — since ancient Greek times. Today higher demand, coupled with new restrictions and the high costs of procuring cadavers — as well as religious bans in many parts of the world — make it more difficult than in the past to obtain a human body to further medical/scientific research and education. Monash University’s proposed solution? 3D printing anatomically identical body parts.
The idea of producing a “3D Printed Anatomy Series” was developed by experts at Australia’s largest university, who intend to make it commercially available in the near future, through the support of partners still to be identified. These artificial human organs will have have the same exact shape and similar colour to the real ones, although of course they will be made of plastic materials and will contain no biological tissue (for now).
According to Professor Paul McMenamin, Director of the University’s Centre for Human Anatomy Education, this simple and cost effective anatomical kit (set to include limbs, chests, abdomen, head and neck) will dramatically improve trainee doctors and many other health professionals while potentially contributing to develop new surgical treatments.
“For centuries cadavers bequested to medical schools have been used to teach students about human anatomy, a practice that continues today. However many medical schools report either a shortage of cadavers, or find their handling and storage too expensive as a result of strict regulations governing where cadavers can be dissected,” Dr. Menamin said. “Without the ability to look inside the body and see the muscles, tendons, ligaments and blood vessels – he added – it’s incredibly hard for students to understand human anatomy. We believe our version, which looks just like the real thing, will make a huge difference.”
3D Printed body parts offer so many advantages over real biological parts that the kit produced by Monash University is likely to take hold very rapidly in Universities and research hospitals throughout the world. As said, they present no moral or religious issue, they do not need to be embalmed (with all the discomfort that derives from the use of embalming chemicals), can be produced on-demand and will never deteriorate, so they offer a cost-effective option. Through the precision of CT scanning, the replicas are also anatomically exact.
“Radiographic imaging, such as CT, is a really sophisticated means of capturing information in very thin layers, almost like the pages of a book”, Professor McMenamin explained. “By taking this data and making a 3D rendered model we can then colour that model and convert that to a file format that the 3D printer uses to recreate, layer by layer, a three-dimensional body part to scale.”
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