LCU receives grant for Anatomage Table

Louisiana Christian University has received an Anatomage table, a piece of equipment that is a game changer for students studying biological sciences.
The Anatomage Table is the most advanced real-human-based medical education system, according to its website. This state-of-the-art platform offers digitized human cadavers and superior medical learning tools, transforming medical education and training. By incorporating the Anatomage Table, institutions can enhance learning outcomes, lower laboratory costs, and establish technological leadership.
The $105,000 table was part of a grant award from the Delta Workforce Grant Program for 2024
“The Anatomage Table includes high-resolution digitized images of actual bodies,” Warren said. “They took cadavers, cryo-treated them and made microlevel sections from head to toe.”
LCU’s Table includes five human cadavers.
“Once sectioned, scanned and digitized, the sections are reconstructed digitally,” Warren said. “The stylus becomes the dissecting tool.”
Every piece of the body has been identified as part of the software.
“I can literally search for anything,” Warren said. “The power is nearly unlimited.”
Whatever you touch, it identifies, and you can isolate individual systems within the body.
Warren said he was trained on the use of the Table at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in Dallas.
Dr. Fernando Castillo, assistant professor at USAHS and who teaches gross anatomy, introduced Warren to working with the Anatomage table and collaborated with Warren on a research project. “Comparative Evaluation of Anatomage Table and Complete Anatomy.”
Anatomage offers unparalleled 3D visualization, real time dissection, and customization of a variety of anatomical, neuroanatomical, physiological, biomechanical, and, to a certain extent, pathological presentations,” Castillo said.
“Unlike other wonderful applications like Complete Anatomy, which, to clarify, is fantastic in its own right, Anatomage features fully rendered cadavers who were at one point actual people,” Castillo said. “This means that their rendered cadavers offer as much realism as is, to my knowledge, currently available as far as virtual dissection technology is concered. The benefit of this reality, as it pertains specifically to pathology, is that students are able to understand the realistic presentation of conditions such as cancer, hernias, osteoporosis, etc. In addition, one of my favorite features in Anatomage is the ability to color code every single anatomical structure visible on these cadavers.”
He added, while this sounds like a simple feature, being able to recreate ‘grounded’ resources like textbook figures is invaluable in offering consistency between what students learn and how they apply that knowledge on the Tables.
Castillo said having the anatomage table at USAHS has significantly widened the scope of visualization for a variety of classes, including gross anatomy, neuroscience, biomechanics, and pathophysiology.
“This has resulted in students being able to engage more directly with lecture content by seeing the content presented using the exact same technology as they will use in the lab,” Castillo said. “This is something that is significantly more difficult to do with cadavers. Wade will certainly tell you that this is also possible using technology like Complete Anatomy; however, my ‘promotion’ of Anatomage is the presenter can integrate real-life characteristics of Anatomage’s cadavers.”
Ethan Lanford, senior biology and chemistry major from Pineville, said he can’t say enough about how helpful the addition of the Anatomage Table will be to the LCU Biology Department and for future students.
“In the past, we had to learn the hard way with minimal technology in the anatomy lab,” Lanford said. “However, the Anatomage Table changes that dynamic. Now, students will be able to observe virtual dissections and see anatomical structures in the context of actual human bodies that have been digitized. The interest level in the lab should skyrocket, and this intrigue should provide a much more interactive learning experience. Personally, the Anatomage table has given me the opportunity to learn the human body in a much more intricate manner before going to medical school.”
For more information about the LCU Department of Biology or biological or medical laboratory sciences, please visit the website or contact Dr. Wade Warren at (318)487.7306 or at wade.warren@lcuniversity.edu.
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Media Release | Oct. 31, 2024 | Pineville, Louisiana
Contact: Dr. Elizabeth B. Clarke, Director of University Communications | Elizabeth.clarke@lcuniversity.edu