Medics and artists study anatomy in 3D

DICK AHLSTROM, Science Editor

AN INNOVATIVE approach to the teaching of anatomy has led to an educational tool as valuable to artists as it is to medical students.

Students from both disciplines can now study human surface anatomy in precision detail and in full 3D. The results of the venture will go on public display tomorrow at the Royal Hibernian Academy.

The work is a two-year collaboration involving the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and the academy, Prof Clive Lee, professor of anatomy at the RCSI, said.

Effectively it provides a way to teach medical students about the body from the outside in, but its 3D presentation also helps artists with live drawing exercises.

“It provides a highly detailed 3D surface anatomy used as a teaching tool for students and for artists,” Prof Lee said. Funding came from Science Foundation Ireland and from the RCSI.

Live models were not always available, making it more difficult for students to visualise the contours of individual muscles, entry points for nerves and where exactly organs are located under the overlaying tissues, he said.

This prompted the collaboration which involved Academy award winner Prof Anil Kokaram and engineer Dr David Corrigan from Trinity, Prof Lee and Dr Valerie Morris from the RCSI and artists Mick O’Dea and Una Sealy from the academy.

“Anil was supervisor for the engineering side,” Dr Morris said. She worked with Dr Corrigan on all the filming and editing using systems developed by Prof Kokaram.

The team prepared a four-minute film trailer using short clips for a gallery presentation entitled, Anatomists, Engineers Artists, said academy co-ordinator Ciara Timlin. “This represents cutting-edge technology to be used to enhance training.” It will be exhibited in the Friends Room at the academy from December 9th-21st.