Plastination as a preservation technique of biological material for teaching and research in anatomy

For the study of human anatomy, the use of fresh cadaveric specimens offers greater fidelity and closer approximation to the in vivo body structures, but it is difficult to obtain them, damage is generated in their manipulation and the study time is limited since in order to preserve their morphological architecture it is necessary to fix their tissues with formaldehyde. Since the emergence of new technologies applied to education, the use of cadavers in medical education is being replaced by alternatives such as the use of anatomical models, virtual dissection tables, virtual anatomy teaching programs and some other alternative techniques. However, many authors believe that completely removing dissection or prosection from medical curricula is a mistake. Within this tension between traditional approaches and new forms, the difficulty in obtaining cadavers or anatomical parts, exposure to carcinogens used in preservation (formaldehyde) and unnecessary exposure to biohazards emerge as devastating criticisms against the use of human bodies or parts of bodies in anatomy teaching. Plastination is a tissue preservation technique developed by Dr. Gunther von Haggens in 1977 in which a forced impregnation of polymers, epoxies or resins is performed, obtaining natural looking, dry, odorless and durable anatomical specimens. With this technique body regions and tissues are preserved for educational and medical research purposes.