Effect of structured cadaver dissection on the durability of anatomical learning in surgery residents

To evaluate the impact of cadaver dissection in a general surgery (GS) curriculum on the retention of anatomical knowledge (AK) at 6 months.

As an integral component of a general surgery resident curriculum for three consecutive years, residents dissected a fresh, non-fixed cadaver for a total of approximately 8 h over 2 days in groups of 6–7 residents with one faculty physician facilitating each dissection group. A pre-test, post-test, and 6-months post-test containing 25 anatomic knowledge questions were administered assessing basic procedural topics and emphasizing head and neck, abdominal, thoracic, extremity, and inguinal anatomy.

A total of 30 residents completed all three tests. Pre-test and post-test scores increased from 66.1 to 75.9% (p < 0.001). There was no statistically significant change from immediate post-test scores to 6-months post-test scores (p < 0.071).

Anatomical knowledge is a primary competency of general surgery residency. Cadaver dissection is a tool often used to facilitate the learning of anatomy; however, the availability of cadavers for dissection is often limited by costs, faculty teaching time required for the dissection, and required specialized cadaver dissection facilities. Despite such limitations, cadaver dissection is routinely used with our study demonstrating anatomic knowledge retention at 6 months after an 8-h session of guided cadaver dissection.