Gross anatomy

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Gross anatomy is the study of anatomy at the visible or macroscopic level. [1] [2] The counterpart to gross anatomy is the field of histology, which studies microscopic anatomy. [1] [2] Gross anatomy of the human body or other animals seeks to understand the relationship between components of an organism in order to gain a greater appreciation of the roles of those components and their relationships in maintaining the functions of life. The study of gross anatomy can be performed on deceased organisms using dissection or on living organisms using medical imaging. Education in the gross anatomy of humans is included training for most health professionals.

Contents

Techniques of study

Gross anatomy is studied using both invasive and noninvasive methods with the goal of obtaining information about the macroscopic structure and organisation of organs and organ systems. Among the most common methods of study is dissection, in which the corpse of an animal or a human cadaver is surgically opened and its organs studied. Endoscopy, in which a video camera-equipped instrument is inserted through a small incision in the subject, may be used to explore the internal organs and other structures of living animals. The anatomy of the circulatory system in a living animal may be studied noninvasively via angiography, a technique in which blood vessels are visualised after being injected with an opaque dye. Other means of study include radiological techniques of imaging, such as X-ray and MRI.

In medical and healthcare professional education

Most health profession schools, such as medical, physician assistant, and dental schools, require that students complete a practical (dissection) course in gross human anatomy. Such courses aim to educate students in basic human anatomy and seek to establish anatomical landmarks that may later be used to aid medical diagnosis. Many schools provide students with cadavers for investigation by dissection, aided by dissection manuals, as well as cadaveric atlases (e.g. Netter's, Rohen's).

Working intimately with a cadaver during a gross anatomy course has been shown to capture the essence of the patient-provider relationship. [3] However, the expense of maintaining cadaveric dissection facilities has limited the time and resources available for gross anatomy teaching in many medical schools, with some adopting alternative prosection-based or simulated teaching. [4] This, coupled with decreasing time dedicated to gross anatomical courses within the growing greater medical school curriculum, has caused controversy surrounding the sufficiency of anatomical teaching with nearly half of newly qualified doctors believing they received insufficient anatomy teaching. [5]

Medical schools have implemented on-screen anatomical lessons and tutorials to teach students surgical procedures. The use of technological visual aids and gross dissection are more effective together than either approach alone. [6] Recently, online flashcards and quizzes [7] have been used as well.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Anatomy is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its beginnings in prehistoric times. Anatomy is inherently tied to developmental biology, embryology, comparative anatomy, evolutionary biology, and phylogeny, as these are the processes by which anatomy is generated, both over immediate and long-term timescales. Anatomy and physiology, which study the structure and function of organisms and their parts respectively, make a natural pair of related disciplines, and are often studied together. Human anatomy is one of the essential basic sciences that are applied in medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Vesalius</span> Flemish anatomist, physician and author (1514–1564)

Andries van Wezel, latinised as Andreas Vesalius, was a Flemish anatomist and physician who wrote De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, what is considered to be one of the most influential books on human anatomy and a major advance over the long-dominant work of Galen. Vesalius is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. He was born in Brussels, which was then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. He was a professor at the University of Padua (1537–1542) and later became Imperial physician at the court of Emperor Charles V.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pathology</span> Study of the causes and effects of disease or injury, and how they arise

Pathology is the study of disease and injury. The word pathology also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatment, the term is often used in a narrower fashion to refer to processes and tests that fall within the contemporary medical field of "general pathology", an area that includes a number of distinct but inter-related medical specialties that diagnose disease, mostly through analysis of tissue and human cell samples. Idiomatically, "a pathology" may also refer to the predicted or actual progression of particular diseases, and the affix pathy is sometimes used to indicate a state of disease in cases of both physical ailment and psychological conditions. A physician practicing pathology is called a pathologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of anatomy</span> Aspect of history

The history of anatomy extends from the earliest examinations of sacrificial victims to the sophisticated analyses of the body performed by modern anatomists and scientists. Written descriptions of human organs and parts can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Egyptian papyri, where attention to the body was necessitated by their highly elaborate burial practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mondino de Luzzi</span> Italian physician and anatomist (c.1270–1326)

Mondino de Luzzi, or de Liuzzi or de Lucci,, also known as Mundinus, was an Italian physician, anatomist and professor of surgery, who lived and worked in Bologna. He is often credited as the restorer of anatomy because he made seminal contributions to the field by reintroducing the practice of public dissection of human cadavers and writing the first modern anatomical text.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastination</span> Technique used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts

Plastination is a technique or process used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts, first developed by Gunther von Hagens in 1977. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moulage</span> Fake injuries for medical training

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dissection</span> Cutting procedure used in anatomy

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prosector</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadaver</span> Dead body used for study or instruction

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A prosection is the dissection of a cadaver or part of a cadaver by an experienced anatomist in order to demonstrate for students anatomic structure. In a dissection, students learn by doing; in a prosection, students learn by either observing a dissection being performed by an experienced anatomist or examining a specimen that has already been dissected by an experienced anatomist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">White matter dissection</span>

White matter dissection refers to a special anatomical technique able to reveal the subcortical organization of white matter fibers in the human or animal cadaver brain.

References

  1. 1 2 Leeson, Thomas S.; Leeson, C. Roland (1981). Histology (Fourth ed.). W. B. Saunders Company. p. 600. ISBN   978-0721657042.
  2. 1 2 Stedman's medical dictionary (27th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2006. ISBN   068340007X.
  3. Aziz, M. Ashraf; Mckenzie, James C.; Wilson, James S.; Cowie, Robert J.; Ayeni, Sylvanus A.; Dunn, Barbara K. (15 February 2002). "The human cadaver in the age of biomedical informatics". The Anatomical Record. 269 (1): 20–32. doi: 10.1002/ar.10046 . PMID   11891622. S2CID   26977138.
  4. Older, J (2004). "Anatomy: a must for teaching the next generation". Surgeon J R Coll Surg Edinb Irel. 2 (2): 79–90. doi:10.1016/S1479-666X(04)80050-7. PMID   15568432.
  5. Fitzgerald, J. Ashraf; White, M; Tang, S; CMaxwell-Armstrong, C; James, D (2008). "Are we teaching sufficient anatomy at medical school? The opinions of newly qualified doctors". Clinical Anatomy. 21 (7): 718–724. doi: 10.1002/ca.20662 . PMID   18773486. S2CID   23640393.
  6. Marker, David; Juluru, Krishna (2012). "Strategic Improvements for Gross Anatomy Web-Based Teaching". Anatomy Research International. 2012: 9. doi: 10.1155/2012/146262 . PMC   3335582 . PMID   22567306.
  7. "PracticeAnatomy.com - review human anatomy in pictures". practiceanatomy.com.