This year, Flinders NT was fortunate to be one of the four Flinders campuses to receive an Anatomage Table for medical and anatomy teaching.

The Anatomage Table is a life-size, 3-dimensional, interactive, anatomy teaching system that will revolutionise anatomy education. It contains images of full male and female gross anatomy, displayed from head to toe, and created from frozen cadavers that have not been chemically treated. This preserves the shape and colouring of the images, replicating the anatomy of an actual human body.

With increasing enrolments in anatomy teaching courses, the demands for anatomy teaching areas has also increased. The Anatomage Table helps meet these demands, by providing an unlimited number of cases from a single device.

Human cadavers are expensive to prepare and also to maintain.The Anatomage table is portable, and can be used in multiple sites of the university, a distinct advantage over cadavers, which cannot be removed from the anatomy laboratories. The tables also require minimal costs for maintenance, as no chemicals are required. This also results in no negative environmental consequences.

The Anatomage table can be used during lectures, as it can be connected to a projector. This transforms traditional lectures into innovative sessions that enhance anatomy education. It can also be used in dissection classes, as the cutting and segmentation tool allows the image of the human body to be cut at any location, to reveal a cross section. The virtual body can then be rotated in any direction, allowing the users to examine the cross section. The cut can then be undone, and the body will be restored, allowing other areas to be examined. This action cannot be performed on human cadavers; hence the Anatomage table allows users to practice dissections as many times as they desire. The table also contains over a 1000 annotated anatomical structures that enhance anatomy learning. Students can also add annotations of their own to the images.

Not only does the Anatomage table contain images of normal gross anatomy, it also provides access to hundreds of pathological conditions. 4D images are also available, allowing users to visualise beating hearts and respiration. Various CT and MRI scans can also be viewed, allowing students to identify anatomical regions using these scans. The table also allows cases to be compared, by allowing many anatomical features to be viewed at once, side by side, or superimposed.

The Anatomage table is the first of its kind to be available in South Australia and the Northern Territory, and will definitely enrich anatomy learning at Flinders University. With its unlimited access to anatomical regions, cases and pathologies this table will lead to interactive and engaging anatomy sessions.

Read More about the Anatomage Table

Anatomy without blood for rural med students – Flinders University News

Taking the cadaver out of autopsies: 3D virtual human helps regional medical students – ABC