In modernized versions of the curriculum, anatomy became the most compromised of the basic medical science subjects. A revolution then started in the medical curriculum, aimed at decreasing expenses, removing redundancies, and making it more clinical. CD remained an integral part of the undergraduate medical curriculum until 2–3 decades ago and was mostly carried out in the initial years of medical training. The first documented CD by a medical student was performed in the 16th century and by the 18th century, it had become an essential component of medical education. This can help stakeholders to include anatomy and CD in a justified manner in medical training.Ĭadaver dissection (CD) started in 300 BC and by the 15th century, it was considered a tool for studying the structural details of the human body. It also provides information on the relevance of CD to medical training. This review presents the status of CD in traditional and modern curricula, undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, surgical training, and elective courses. Anatomists, surgeons, and medical educationists have published different opinions on the status of CD. Since the inception of the modern medical curriculum, anatomy teaching and cadaver dissection (CD) have been diluted or reallocated in medical training. This overview may help curriculum designers to place CD in medical curricula and training programs in a justified manner. CD, when integrated vertically, still has a part to play in medical training in modified ways. In addition, CD activities have increased in postgraduate anatomy courses, surgery training, and voluntary/optional CD programs. Medical schools that stopped or decreased CD have learnt from their experiences, and have restarted it in modified forms by integrating it vertically with medical training. We describe how medical schools have continued to include CD in anatomy teaching in the traditional or modified form. Literature published in the English language on topics related to CD in the past 3 decades was scrutinized using different search engines. This review of the literature examines the status of anatomy teaching with CD in traditional, modern, and postgraduate medical training across the world.
Lately, conflicting opinions regarding the utility of this modality in medical training have been published in medical literature.
Cadaver dissection (CD) is considered a tool for studying the structural details of the human body.