Description
Clinical History
This 63-year old man had several previous admissions to hospital for bleeding from oesophageal varices. On admission he was noted to be mildly febrile, jaundiced with severe flapping tremor of his hands. He had a constellation of other findings included ascites, prominent periumbilical veins and hemorrhoids. He had a massive hematemesis and died.
Pathology
A slice of liver has been mounted to display the cut surface, which shows multiple well demarcated nodules varying in size from 1 to 7 mm in diameter. The external surface of the liver is also nodular and irregular. This is an example of cirrhosis of the liver, with a mixed micro- and macro- nodular pattern and marked fatty change.
Further Information
The commonest cause of cirrhosis and fatty change is chronic alcoholism.
Advantages
- Anatomically accurate and identical to real specimen
- No ethical issues - not real human body parts
- Reasonably priced
- Available within a short lead time
- Reproducible, several identical prints can be used as a classroom set
- Can be produced in different sizes to cater for the needs of the teacher
Human Cadavers
- Access to cadavers can be problematic. Many countries cannot access cadavers for cultural and religious reasons
- Cadavers cost a lot money
- High cost for establishing your own plastination suite
- Wet specimens cannot be used in uncertified labs
- Dissection of cadavers is a lot of staff time and that is a cost
- Storage of cadaver material needs special refrigeration etc. which has coast
- If you want another specimen you have to start all over again
Plastinates
- Costs
- Ethical issues
- Timeframe for plastination process
- Many countries do not allow their importation
- One of a kind
Superior 3D print results compared with conventional methods
- Vibrant color offering with 10 million colors
- UV-curable inkjet printing
- High quality 3D printing that can create products that are delicate, extremely precise and incredibly realistic
Clear Support Material
- To avoid breakage of fragile, thin, and delicate arteries, veins or vessels, a clear support material is printed on such spots. This makes the models robust and can be handled by students easily.
