VCOM Research Day Program Book 2023

Faculty Research Educational

01 Teaching Human Anatomy Using Ethically-Sourced Specimens Plastinated with the Elnady Technique

F. Elnady; M. Elnady Corresponding author: felnady@vt.edu

VMCVM - DBMSP – Blacksburg

Teaching human anatomy is a must for medical students and it is a challenge. Several alternatives are being developed to compensate lack of human cadavers. Some of them are in 2-D format, like images, others are plastic models or electronic media, including virtual reality and augmented reality. Plastination and 3-D printed models are of great help but still do not provide flexibility or color of

the real tissues. The Elnady technique is a modified plastination that has been successfully used for teaching and training in veterinary education. It is cheaper, easier and provide many advantages than regular plastination. Since several animal organs are similar anatomically and sometimes physiologically to human, we plastinated brain of sheep, eye of cow and sheep, viscera of the cat, and kidney and heart of

the pig to be used for teaching human anatomy and physiology. The specimens are flexible, dry, durable, with no offensive odor, could be stained and easily stored. We encourage using of such ethically sourced organs for teaching and learning of human anatomy.

153 2 0 2 3 R e s e a r c h R e c o g n i t i o n D a y