Bringing Interactive Anatomy and Physiology into the Classroom

Human anatomy and physiology are among the most difficult aspects of medical knowledge to learn and communicate. This holds true for medical students faced with the material for the first time through to doctors consulting with their patients.

Cadavers serve the needs of anatomy for students, but they are expensive and difficult to acquire and maintain. Also cadavers offer, at best, clumsy opportunities to explore the human body at different scales. Textbooks and other illustrative material can overcome some of the shortcomings of cadavers, but not all. They are largely static and provide only limited opportunities to shift from the macro to the micro scale, and back.

The LINDSAY Virtual Human (LINDSAY) project aims to develop an accurate virtual representation of the human body on a computer system. A prototype of LINDSAY is already in use, with constantly expanding visions. These include navigating to any part of the body (approaching from any departure point), exploring that site at scales ranging from life-size to molecular, superimposing the important physiological reactions located at that site, and seeing the effects of disruptions of normal physiology. 

We will demonstrate the LINDSAY system and present our first experiences of using LINDSAY as an innovative approach to medical education.

More information on the LINDSAY Virtual Human project can be found at: http://lindsayvirtualhuman.org