Fresh frozen cadavers in surgical teaching: a gelatine arterial infusion technique

Background: Fresh frozen human cadavers have been used at the Clinical Training and Evaluation Centre, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA for years and are an excellent model for surgical dissection thanks to their representative tissue quality. Differentiation between artery and vein can be difficult as both collapse post mortem. A historical technique was therefore refined to increase arterial rigidity using gelatine prior to freezing. Methods: Two fresh human cadavers were selected after ethical approval. Gelatine was infused into the carotid artery in one, and into the common femoral artery in the second at a more dilute concentration. In both cases, infusion continued until the rate slowed spontaneously indicating filling prior to setting. The cadavers were frozen according to our standard policy and thawed for a teaching course. Results: These were observational. Examination by palpation and dissection after freezing and subsequent thawing revealed arterial turgor to have developed at the popliteal and brachial levels in the first cadaver, and to the distal vessels in the second. Arterial/venous discrimination was therefore enhanced and confirmed by participant feedback on subsequent courses. Conclusion: The fresh frozen cadaver is already a superior model for teaching thanks to its near life-like representation of tissue quality and handling. A successful technique for infusion of gelatine into the arterial tree of fresh human cadavers prior to freezing has been refined resulting in enhancement of arterial/venous discrimination during anatomical, interventional and surgical teaching, further optimizing its use in teaching and this now our standard means of preparation.