Melbourne-made 3D-printed body parts could replace cadavers for medical training

ABC A 3D-printed heart created by Melbourne scientists to aid in medical education

A team of medical experts in Melbourne has created a 3D-printed anatomy kit that is set to revolutionise medical training around the world.

The printed body parts which look almost exactly the same as the real thing can be used to replace difficult to get and expensive cadavers that are crucial for training doctors.

On display, the rows of body parts paint a macabre picture - but these hands, feet, brains and hearts are not the real thing - they're 3D-printed copies.

Professor Paul McMenamin, from Monash University in Melbourne, hopes the anatomy kits will change the future of medical education.

"Not everyone has the luxury of having access to real cadavers specimens because of all the problems of handling cadavers, storing cadavers and using them over and over again for teaching purposes," Professor McMenamin said.

"So the advantage of this is that the students could sit in any classroom and look at this, it's a dry powder based print but it's got all the anatomy that a student would need to learn that particular part of anatomy."

Professor McMenamin runs the Centre for Human Anatomy Education at the university.

He says the initial process isn't easy: it requires multiple CT scans of a real body part and then up to 12 hours of printing.

Once that's done, copies are just a click away.

See the original post here:
Melbourne-made 3D-printed body parts could replace cadavers for medical training