Take away body parts! An investigation into the use of 3D‐printed anatomical models in undergraduate anatomy education

Abstract

Understanding the three-dimensional (3D) nature of the human form is imperative for effective medical practice and the emergence of 3D printing creates numerous opportunities to enhance aspects of medical and healthcare training. A recently deceased, un-embalmed donor was scanned through high-resolution computed tomography. The scan data underwent segmentation and post-processing and a range of 3D-printed anatomical models were produced. A four-stage mixed-methods study was conducted to evaluate the educational value of the models in a medical program. (1) A quantitative pre/post-test to assess change in learner knowledge following 3D-printed model usage in a small group tutorial; (2) student focus group (3) a qualitative student questionnaire regarding personal student model usage (4) teaching faculty evaluation. The use of 3D-printed models in small-group anatomy teaching session resulted in a significant increase in knowledge (P = 0.0001) when compared to didactic 2D-image based teaching methods. Student focus groups yielded six key themes regarding the use of 3D-printed anatomical models: model properties, teaching integration, resource integration, assessment, clinical imaging, and pathology and anatomical variation. Questionnaires detailed how students used the models in the home environment and integrated them with anatomical learning resources such as textbooks and anatomy lectures. In conclusion, 3D-printed anatomical models can be successfully produced from the CT data set of a recently deceased donor. These models can be used in anatomy education as a teaching tool in their own right, as well as a method for augmenting the curriculum and complementing established learning modalities, such as dissection-based teaching. Anat Sci Educ 11: 44-53. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.

Ex vivo virtual and 3D printing methods for evaluating an anatomy‐based spinal instrumentation technique for the 12th thoracic vertebra

“…Potentially, this proposed ex vivo method also has considerable educational value. Three‐dimensional printing greatly improves education for understanding anatomical relationships in surgery (Smith, Tollemache, Covill, & Johnston, ; Vaccarezza & Papa, ). This proposed method for investigating spinal instrumentation can be performed at any spinal level for experimenting on combinations of screw size, angulation, entry point validation, and so on.…”

“…Potentially, this proposed ex vivo method also has considerable educational value. Three-dimensional printing greatly improves education for understanding anatomical relationships in surgery (Smith, Tollemache, Covill, & Johnston, 2018;Vaccarezza & Papa, 2015 (Bohl et al, 2019;.…”

Three‐Dimensional Printing of Archived Human Fetal Material for Teaching Purposes

“…The introduction of 3D printed materials to anatomy education has elicited a great deal of interest and uptake globally by medical schools (see discussion in Drake and Pawlina, ; McMenamin et al, ; Lim et al, ; Cornwall, ; Chen et al, ; Smith and Jones, ; Smith et al, ). Although discussion to date has focused primarily on the replication of adult human structures, described here is a novel approach of creating high fidelity copies of human development using CT imaging and 3D printing.…”

“…Studies have shown that students experience particular difficulties when attempting to visualize anatomical structures in 3D (Kramer and Soley, ). Using a variety of different teaching materials, particularly those focused on improving thinking in three‐dimensional spatial orientations, have already been shown to lead to improved outcomes for students (Lim et al, ; Chen et al, ; Smith et al, ). While it is possible to illustrate the stages of human fetal development with 2D images, anatomy in 3D printed format from actual data will be fundamentally more realistic than textbook illustrations.…”

“…Medical students assessed using double‐blinded randomized controlled trials show increased recall when exposed to 3D printed anatomical replicas compared to cadaver specimens plus 3D prints (Lim et al, ), a finding supported by further study utilizing printed skulls (Chen et al, ). Whole adult bodies scanned by high resolution CT, followed by post‐scan processing, segmentation, and printing, also elicited significant increases in knowledge retention in comparison with classical, didactic 2D teaching (Smith et al, ). These studies therefore provide solid evidence that the introduction of 3D printed human adult anatomical specimens is beneficial to the study of human anatomy.…”