Monash Anatomy puts body parts on the table
Sectra table. Image courtesy of Sectra.
After introducing 3D printed replicas of human body parts to the world last year, Professor Paul McMenamin, Dr Justin Adams and the team at the Monash University Centre for Human Anatomy Education (CHAE) have brought revolution to the field again by teaming up with healthcare technology company, Sectra.
Negotiated by David Lyster of Monash Innovation, the Sectra-Monash agreement means CHAE will licence out its phenomenal 3D quality images to Sectra for use on the Sectra table, which is already making waves in the industry.
What is a Sectra table?
A Sectra table is a multi-touch visualisation screen that displays radiographic material for teaching and learning of medical students and other allied health professionals.
Put simply, it’s a giant ipad the size of an operating table, where medical students can view different radiological images of the body, being able to ‘cut’ through ‘flesh’ with a virtual knife or section the image in any body plane.
Until now, Sectra tables have largely used images of patients from radiology practices which were perhaps showing pathology or not complete regions, and not at the highest resolution due to limitations such as exposing the patient to too much radiation.
“Our data is not obtained from patients,” said Professor McMenamin.
“They are high-resolution images of dissected human cadavers, digitally segmented in a way that makes them more like viewing a real human body region that would be seen in an anatomy teaching lab.”
Monash will provide 50 examples of human anatomy – these will include examples of 3D data sets of heads, hands, legs and other body parts – enabling medical students to view and understand anatomy like never before.
“In the future, every person who has a Sectra table will have access to the ‘Monash 3D Normal Human Anatomy series’,” said Professor McMenamin.
Shaping the future of medical learning
The next phase for Professor McMenamin, Dr Justin Adams and the team at CHAE is to create educational material around the data sets which will include labels and exam questions, thus enhancing their value as teaching aids.
“It will be like having a 3D text book on the Sectra table,” said Professor McMenamin.
“It will potentially be available to students in every country in the world that is taught with the aid of Sectra tables.”