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Discussion

Cadavers and Anatomy class

I did several searches on this and the most recent threads I found were from 2009, so if I missed a recent topic addressing this issue, I'm sorry :)

Is anyone's anatomy lab class cadaver based? If so, how did you handle it?

I'm currently in a class similar to A&P I. The other day I was given the option of a) killing a mouse with C02 and dissecting it fast enough to still see the heart beating :( or b) study a cadaver!

I thought I would be able to handle the cadaver, no problem. After studying all of the organ systems, I completed my assignment and left. It was amazing experience and gave me an idea of what to look forward to in Anatomy class.

However, I CAN NOT get the smell out of my head, I can't hardly eat any meat, and it's over been a week! What got to me the most was that this cadaver's hands were perfectly preserved, while the rest of his body was all muscle. I know I'm being ridiculous, but I surely can't be the only one!

Any advice?

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    NSC in Las Vegas offers cadavers for A&P classes...we had both an elderly man and woman. The initial smell is mostly strong formalin...after your body and sense of smell mellows/adapts (only like 3 min) its really cool. Its not bloody or anything, just wet from the chemical and all the parts look like rubber and plastic. I actually got to cut skin away from the adipose tissue and dig around with my finger to find a nerve. Its helpful to see actual size of the organs and how they are found in relation to each other. I highly recommend!

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    I wish ours did. We got cats :(

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    I've had the "advantage" of both. The upside of a cadaver lab is that you get to see how everything physically relates to each other. Sometimes you get to see the results of surgery, or stenting, or a CABG. Sometimes you might even see transplanted organs... One of the two cadavers we had in one A&P lab had a quad bypass using saphenous vein grafts. The other had breast augmentation surgery and had a stent.

    What's nice is that after a good year of dissection, you do get a very good idea where lots of structures normally are in the body. For instance, for IVs, I know where the EJ is, the IJ, the Subclavian, and Femoral veins are. In pretty much everyone, those are in the same basic locations and you can find them if you know the landmarks for them all.

    Quite a few years later, I took A&P again and we had cats. They do a decent job of showing you how things fit together, though you don't see the results of various procedures that are done on humans. If you do a cat dissection with the mindset that you're after the concepts of how things physically relate, a cat lab will do just fine. The biggest issue with using cadavers is their cost. They are not inexpensive... and this is a HUGE consideration for schools.

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