CT scans take anatomy lessons to a new dimension

Medical students in Edinburgh will be able to practice dissections using what looks like a giant computer tablet, allowing them to interact by touch with a virtual body.

The life-size table, developed by US company Anatomage, has been created from CT scans which allow the body to be seen from front to back, side to side and upside down.

Students at Edinburgh University's school of anatomy will be able to use it to investigate the human body by dissecting a virtual cadaver.

The device allows students to remove organs, veins, arteries, nerves or tissue by touch, thus enabling them to see how parts relate to one another. The disadvantage of dissection using a real cadaver is that body parts can only be removed.

Gordon Findlater, professor of translational anatomy at Edinburgh University, said: "Although it will never, I believe, replace the experience of dissecting and handling a real cadaver, it will allow students to handle a virtual cadaver without all the legislation that accompanies the use of real cadavers.

"So far we have received a lot of good feedback from the students and surgeons who have tested it out."

In addition to the pre-installed CT and MRI scans, researchers say that it is possible to import personalised scans to the device, which can then be recreated into virtual cadavers and used in a teaching package designed for a specific purpose.

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CT scans take anatomy lessons to a new dimension