An Ancient Science to Improve Today’s Clinical Practice: Oral Surgery Meets Human Anatomy

Human body dissection was a ubiquitous practice in the past, to better understand anatomy and to develop medicine. Today, its role could still be important to answer everyday clinical queries and help surgeons. The example of the possible lack of anesthesia during symphysis surgeries can emphasize the usefulness of dissection. The mandibular symphysis usually receives innervation from inferior alveolar nerve terminations, but, in some rare cases, a particular anastomosis involves the lingual nerve and the nerve to the mylohyoid. The anatomical knowledge resulting from body dissections could help oral surgeons to understand the reason why the patient could feel pain during the surgery, and ensure performance of the right lingual nerve block to obtain complete anesthesia. This clinical situation shows the educational role of an ancient, yet still valid, practice, human dissection, and the importance of anatomical studies to improve surgical skills, to provide better treatment for the patient.

ANATOMY DESCRIBED IN AYURVEDA AND MODERN SCIENCE: A REVIEW ARTICLE

Anatomy is broadly appreciated as being one of the cornerstones of medical education. If we go through the his- tory of human anatomy, it seems that the anatomy of modern times is well recognized from the days of the re- naissance that is from the 15th century. Medical Science was one area where surprising advances had been made in ancient times in India. Specifically, these advances were in the areas of human dissection, embryology, plastic surgery, extraction of cataracts, description of Asthi, Sandhi, Peshi, Snayu, Marma And Pramana Sharira etc. These do not just claim. There is documentary evidence to prove the existence of these practices. Acharya Sushruta has paid great should start his surgical carrier unless he is well aware of human anatomy. Acharya Charaka also studied the anatomy of the human body and various organs. He also described the number of mus- cles joints etc., in the human body. The object of the present study is to trace out the most significant and valua- ble hidden treasures of anatomy practised in the past by Acharya and its review in Modern science. Keywords: Asthi, Sandhi, Plastic surgery, Snayu Marma

Gross Anatomy for Physical Therapy course

The study of anatomy supported with human dissection is foundational to training of health science professionals. For a student, cadaver dissection offers an active learning experience. For the training of physical therapists, we created a manual that efficiently instructs the dissection of the whole body over the course of 30 laboratory periods. In the spirit of academic collegiality, this letter provides health science educators a direct download link (https://hdl.handle.net/11299/218174) to the dissection manual hosted by the University of Minnesota (USA) Digital Conservancy. No registration is required, the download is free, and the PDF file of the dissection manual can be reproduced or adapted for any educational use.

The History of Medicine - Trepanning to Organ Transplants

This paper was written to study the order of medical advances throughout history. It investigates changing human beliefs concerning the causes of diseases, how modern surgery developed and improved methods of diagnosis and the use of medical statistics. Human beliefs about the causes of disease followed a logical progression from supernatural causes, such as the wrath of the Gods, to natural causes, involving imbalances within the human body. The invention of the microscope led to the discovery of microorganisms which were eventually identified as the cause of infectious diseases. Identification of the particular microorganism causing a disease led to immunization against the disease. Modern surgery only developed after the ending of the taboo against human dissection and the discovery of modern anaesthesia and the discovery of the need for anti-septic practices. Modern diagnostic practices began with the discovery of x-rays and the invention of medical scanners. Improved mathematics, especially in probability theory, led to statistical studies which led to a much greater ability, to identify the causes of disease, and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments. These discoveries all occurred in a necessary and inevitable order with the easiest discoveries being made first and the harder discoveries being made later. The order of discovery determined the course of the history of medicine and is an example of how social and cultural history has to follow a particular course determined by the structure of the world around us.

The era of virtual reality in medical education: do we still need the dissection table?

For the benefit of the uninitiated, the MBBS course begins with the three basic subjects, anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. Of these, the most intensive and gruelling for most is the subject of anatomy. And within the said subject, the most demanding is the human dissection table. It can even be considered as the ultimate icon of initiation into medical education. It has tragedy, dark comedy and drama in different measures. The image of young students huddled around a shrivelled human body, usually referred to medically as a ‘Cadaver, on a non-descript table, ever endures in mind of all doctors, for better or worse. This happens in a hall ever filled by the suffocating smell of formalin and the dread of the watchful eye of demonstrators trained like hounds. The course in anatomy is split into different sections on limbs, thorax, abdomen, head and neck etc, with corresponding dissection studies to be made on the cadaver, which shall henceforth be referred to as the 'body'.

Post-Mortem Pedagogy: A Brief History of the Practice of Anatomical Dissection

Anatomical dissection is almost ubiquitous in modern medical education, masking a complex history of its practice. Dissection with the express purpose of understanding human anatomy began more than two millennia ago with Herophilus, but was soon after disavowed in the third century BCE. Historical evidence suggests that this position was based on common beliefs that the body must remain whole after death in order to access the afterlife. Anatomical dissection did not resume for almost 1500 years, and in the interim anatomical knowledge was dominated by (often flawed) reports generated through the comparative dissection of animals. When a growing recognition of the utility of anatomical knowledge in clinical medicine ushered human dissection back into vogue, it recommenced in a limited setting almost exclusively allowing for dissection of the bodies of convicted criminals. Ultimately, the ethical problems that this fostered, as well as the increasing demand from medical education for greater volumes of human dissection, shaped new considerations of the body after death. Presently, body bequeathal programs are a popular way in which individuals offer their bodies to medical education after death, suggesting that the once widespread views of dissection as punishment have largely dissipated.