Abstract

Vd. Neha Hassan Patankar* and Dr. Vinod M. Choudhari

ABSTRACT

Background: Anatomy is the backbone of medical field and it has utmost importance in clinical aspects. As emerging world and inquisitiveness for knowledge the population heading towards this field has increased with the increase in demand for cadavers. Embalming is an age old technique which has upgraded with time and reached this journey till plastination (with its self-upgradation techniques). Plastination is an art of anatomical embalming. Plastination, developed by Gunther Von Hagen in 1977 is the technique of tissue preservation in its life-like state for long-term. Objective: To describe plastination techniques and various application in medical education. Design: Articles were searched from internet using various search terms such as embalming techniques, plastination, teaching aids in anatomy, etc. Selection of the articles where made from review article point of view. Result: Plastination is a process of anatomical specimen preservation by forced impregnation method with curable polymers like silicon, epoxy or polyester resins. In this process, water and lipids in biological tissues are replaced by curable polymers which are hardened, thereby resulting in dry, odorless and durable specimens. The plastination techniques based on the type of the polymer used for impregnation. The technique consists of four steps: fixation, dehydration or defatting, forced impregnation and curing or hardening. Conclusion: Plastination is a boon in preservation technique and great aid in teaching anatomy with its various applications in medical field. The important thing about this technique is that each and every part of the body and tissue can be preserved and used for educational purposes. With evolution of the technique some lacunae are always there, here ethical issue, religious dilemma and even sex plastinates are matter of immense concern and it shouldn’t be ignored. Besides this the invention is an artistic phenomenon accepted and utilized by various anatomists worldwide.