Imaging and 3D printing enhance teaching of anatomy

The use of cross-sectional imaging and 3D printing may enhance the teaching of spinal anatomy in undergraduate medical education, according to a field study published November 2 in Academic Radiology. A team at the University of Granada in Spain compared the use of conventional approaches with cross-sectional imaging and 3D printing among groups of students and found those using the new tools demonstrated better knowledge outcomes.“Cross-sectional imaging and 3D printing offer valuable tools for enhancing the teaching of spinal anatomy in undergraduate medical education,” wrote first author Antonio Jesús Láinez Ramos-Bossini, MD, and colleagues.Current spatial understanding among students of many anatomical structures is based on conventional anatomical illustrations. This approach is hampered by intrinsic limitations of two-dimensional representations, however, and this may translate into problems in recognizing anatomy in the clinical setting, according to the authors.Conversely, cross-sectional imaging and 3D printing represent state-of-the-art approaches to improve anatomy teaching compared with traditional learning, but their use in medical schools remains limited, they added.Thus, the group explored implementing these tools and aimed to determine whether they could be used to improve undergraduate medical education.The researchers selected 40 undergraduate students in the same basic anatomy course and divided them into two groups. Twenty students were exposed to s...

Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - November 7, 2023 Category: Radiology Authors: Will Morton Tags: Advanced Visualization Medical Students Source Type: news