Procedures for Embalming Cadavers for the Dissecting Laboratory

Abstract

For centuries, preservation of the human body has been practiced for ceremonial, religious, emotional, prurient, or medical purposes (1, 2). Medical education has depended in large part on the preservative qualities of formaldehyde for cadavers since the turn of the 20th century (3, 4). Unfortunately, formaldehyde has been designated as, and is, a mitogen. Preservation of cadavers is a requirement for teaching gross anatomy to medical students or students in allied medical sciences and requires disease-free specimens containing little to no mitogenic agents. To achieve this end, cadavers must be tested for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and prepared with the minimal use of formaldehyde. The following discourse relates a method of achieving superior preservation of disease-free cadavers and their central nervous systems.