3d Impressions, New Technology That Supports Anatomical Teaching

The difficulties of access to cadavers have forced anatomists to replace dissections with the use of preparations treated with various methods of conservation and/or anatomical models; high-cost items that intended to imitate - not always successfully - the cadaveric preparations. Recently, new methods have been developed for 3D printing of models of body segments using computed tomography images or scanner surface, so that the technology exists to create replicas of body sections or cadaver dissections to apply for teaching purposes. We present our experience in 3D printing technology applied to create replicas of human body sections, allowing us to generate an accurate reproduction, with real and tangible sections which retain the proportions exactly as well as topographic relations, morphological and color accuracy, without the possibility of decomposition or contamination.