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Cadaveric Research and Training facility (CTRF)

Dr. Sumit Sinha MS, DNB, MCh
Deptt of Neurosurgery JPNATC and AIIMS, New Delhi

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India has established a state of art research & training facility, as a part of its efforts towards the education of students as well as qualified professionals. The Cadaveric Research and Training facility (CTRF), one of its own kind, has been developed with the intention to provide opportunity to learn in a ‘near life’ situation.

CTRF is committed to provide facilities and resources for conducting courses for medical graduates and professionals across the country and abroad. The lab is located at the basement area of JPNA Trauma center and has an approximate area of 25 x 40 ft. From 1st Nov 2014 and till date CTRF has organized successfully 68 (Sixty Eight) courses and trained 1217 (one thousand two hundred seventeen) participants from different specialties: Neurosurgery (Skull Base, Endoscopy, Spine Open, Spine endoscopy, Epilepsy surgery, Brachial Plexus), Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Orthopaedics, Dental, Anaesthesia (Airway Management, Sonography, Pain management), Emergency Medicine, ENT, Gynaecology.

The AIIMS Cadaver training and research facility has been established with the objective of grooming and nurturing the dissection skills of young surgeons across the country and abroad. The cadavers are an exact specimen of the human body and offer an excellent medium for young surgeons to practice their dissection skills. This form of training has been recognized as the best of among all the trainings like animal dissections, video simulations, mannequins etc. The learning is a life-long and continuous process and does never finish in the life of a medical professional, for whom it is veryimportant to keep oneself updated at all the times and abreast of every new technical advancement happening in the field of medical science. The CTRF provides for a full range of motor skills development in all the surgical specialties like Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, General surgery, peripheral nerve surgery and areas of Emergency Medical care and Critical care medicine training for all other specialties. It is here that we envision providing Hands-On education to physicians and surgeons on a one to one basis. The CTRF is the first of its own kind in the country to provide such training, which is at par with some of the most advanced training facilities across the world.

The knowledge of human anatomy is absolutely essential in the medical curriculum. We as medical professionals have always known about the usefulness of the anatomy dissections at the cadaver labs, during the initial parts of our medical careers. The study of the Cadaver anatomy is an essential part of medical education and is an important stepping stone not only during the transition from students to physicians, but also during the later part of our careers. Even after medical school, physicians must turn to a cadaver for learning and mastering the surgical techniques andinvasive procedures, before finally attempting these on a live patient. Although phenomenal advances in computer imaging and modeling technology allow surgical research facilities to explore new approaches, ethics demand the use of surgical anatomy specimen to validate procedures before they can be attempted on living patients.