A Comparative Study of Plastinated Specimen and Formalin Fixed Speimen in Anatomy
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Abstract
Background and Objective: Plastination is a technique of cadaveric preservation developed by Dr. Gunther von Hagens in 1977. In this process, the curable polymers are forcefully impregnated to the biological tissue thereby resulting into an odourless, dry, long lasting, and natural looking specimen. There are two type of plastination whole organ plastination and sheet plastination. Most commonly used polymers include epoxy, silicon and polyesters. The conventional method of preserving cadavers involved formalin which is known for its irritant nature. This study is aimed in preparation of plastinated specimen and evaluating the efficacy of plastinated specimen by comparing with formalin fixed wet specimen by using the feedback questioner.
Method: Processing of plastinated specimen involves four crucial steps that are Fixation, Dehydration, Force impregnation and Curing. For whole organ plastination of duodenum we have used PLASTODUR-S-18 resin and for sheet plastination of section of arm and kidney we have used PLASTODUR E-45. The resulted specimen was evaluated from the Teaching faculty of Department of Anatomy, Pathology and Surgery MGM Medical College, MGMIHS, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai by using feedback questioner.
Result: The resulted whole organ plastinated specimen duodenum and sheet plastination specimen were dry, long lasting, easy to handle and useful for differentiating structures.
Conclusion: Plastinated specimens are not only restricted to anatomy department but also beneficial to other specialties such as pathology, radiology and surgery. It is also beneficial for museum preservation and in research.