The single table lets students dissect hundreds of items, from animals to humans, from healthy organs to diseased ones. It’s called an Anatomage table, and it’s typically found in large medical schools and research institutions. But thanks to a grant from Ivy Tech Community College’s Central Office, the machine can also be found on Ivy Tech Northeast’s Coliseum Campus in Room 1352.
from a recent Ivy Tech Central Office grant.
It’s designed to look like an autopsy table, and the large, long screen acts like an oversized tablet. Matt Shady, the College’s interim Health Division dean, illustrates how the machine works: He pulls up an image of a cadaver, which was scanned in from a real body. He uses his finger to draw a line down the body’s shoulder, cutting off the arm. He rotates the body, giving a view down into the incision. Using sliding scale tools, he can remove layer by layer from the shoulder.
“Everything is done to actual scale but can also be enlarged so smaller details can be easily identified,” he says.
Shady can also show different systems. There’s the cadaver’s skeletal system, resembling a Halloween decoration; there’s its nervous system, something out of a horror film; its circulatory system, a maze of twisting veins.
During fall semester 2016, faculty trained on the Anatomage table to learn its functions, including the ability to download images to a flash drive.
“Those images can then be used in future class sessions on a PowerPoint presentation or on quizzes or tests,” Shady says. “Real life scans such as X-rays or CTs can also be updated and displayed on the table.”
The table should be available for classroom use this semester.
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