SynDaver: The New Cadaver
Learning human anatomy from inflexible plastic models could become a thing of the past. In the 2017 Patriot Ledger article “Synthetic Cadaver Helps Students Get a Feel for Human Anatomy at Quincy College in Plymouth,” Rich Harbert reports on the SynDaver — a synthetic cadaver — that has been rising in popularity as a tool used to teach college students about human physiology.
Located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Quincy College is a two-year college that recently purchased a SynDaver from SynDaver Labs. The SynDaver, or SynD, has all the components of a human cadaver — bones, muscles, organs, tendons, and joints -that are realistically rendered. Yet SynD offers more than information on the structure of the human body. This particular SynD model — the Piper model — is a 5 foot 4 inch synthetic model that has functional musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, endocrine and nervous systems. This allows students to both learn about the structure and function of the human body. For instance, students can learn how to read the pulse— the model’s synthetic heart pumps synthetic blood through its cardiovascular system and can be regulated to beat to different rhythms. They can also perform CPR and practice injecting fluids into the SynDaver.
Dr. Dennis Burke, a professor who teaches physiology and anatomy at Quincy College, was the one who proposed the purchasing of the SynDaver as a teaching tool for his students. He first learned about the SynDaver when it was advertised on the show “Shark Tank.” After visiting the University of Rhode Island — which possesses four SynDavers — to see firsthand the SynDavers’ effectiveness as a teaching tool, he advocated for the purchasing of a SynDaver. The college purchased the Piper model for $65,000, and thus became the first two-year college in Massachusetts to purchase a SynDaver. According to the article, there are only three colleges or universities that have purchased SynDavers — Quincy College, Lasell College, and the University of Rhode Island.
SynD does not require a lot of maintenance; when not in use, it is kept in a metal tank of water that is treated with the same chemicals used in pools and that has to be changed every two to three weeks.
The concept of the SynDaver is intriguing. A SynDaver is relatively expensive at $65,000, especially so when human cadavers cost around $1,000 (though in individual body parts can cost as much as $4,000 (Broder, 2004)), but the pros outweigh the cons. A SynDaver provides functional information about the human body that a human cadaver cannot, and students can have interaction, albeit limited, with the SynDaver as if it were a live patient. It is a good way for potential medical students to learn more about the human body. Dealing with synthetic cadavers does not come with the same ethical issues that dealing with human ones do. At the same time, I am not sure if it would be a good idea to replace all cadavers with SynDavers, as medical students would eventually have to work with actual human bodies.
An interesting point was that the model that the college purchased was female. And on the SynDaver Labs’ website catalog, its possible to customize the sex of the purchased SynDaver, yet the default sex of a SynDaver is female. This reminds me of the anatomical Venus. Both models are female, though the SynDaver does not solely focus on the internal organs — or the uterus — but rather on the entire body. Both models can be taken apart to look at the inner workings of the human body. But unlike the anatomical Venus, the SynDaver does not aim to be an aesthetically pleasing picture of a corpse — its purpose is more utilitarian. Yet both models still use the female body to explain human anatomy.
Check out http://syndaver.com/ for more information on what SynDaver Labs does.
