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Traditionally gross anatomy is taught at
medical schools with cadaver dissections. Due to the cost
involved in maintenance the medical faculties are
considering novel teaching/learning tools in Anatomy. As
a solution the Department o f Anatomy, Faculty o f
Medical Sciences (FMS), University o f Sri
Jayewardenepura (USJP) has invented a method o f
mounting considerably anhydrous human tissues in a
solid resin casts to study detailed anatomy. To develop a
durable low cost technique to preserve human tissues in a
manner that details the anatomy while retaining relevant
properties. The tissues were initially fixed using formalin
to stop the decaying and decomposition. The water
content was significantly removed using series o f 99.9%
acetone while maintaining the original tissue
architecture. Dehydrated tissue parts were exposed to
sub-atmospheric pressure in a resin bath to replace all
acetone molecules by resin. Final specimens were
embedded in clear resin after mixing with the catalyst,
which will polymerized into a solid resin cast. The human
specimens were taken from the cadavers that have been
donated to the Department o f Anatomy, FMS, USJP with
written consent obtained prior to death to use the
cadaver fo r medical teaching and research. This is an
appropriate method fo r preserving human body crosssections at specific vertebral levels. In this method,
dehydrated human tissues were embedded in a clear
synthetic resin cast, while preserving the original shape
and volume. These casts have zero exposure to formalin
during handling. The specimens are more durable than
other routine specimen preservation methods used in Sri
Lanka. Finally the tissue waste is low and thereby the
preservation and maintenance cost o f cadavers could be
reduced drastically. Currently these resin casts are in use
fo r teaching/learning anatomy at FMS, USJP.
Undoubtedly the detailed anatomy is best learned by
cadaver dissections. Resin casted specimens are a cost
effective and successful supplementary method o f
teaching/learning gross and cross sectional Anatomy with
no exposure to formalin.
