Teaching anatomy: cadavers vs. computers?

Our study was aimed to show if cadaver dissections are still important in the Anatomy Course for medical students or whether computerized resources could replace them. We followed three groups, one of them (698 students) proceeded through the Anatomy Course in a traditional way, meaning, with cadaver material enough to observe all the regions and structures; the second group (330 students) used many technological resources but not cadaver dissections; and the third group (145 students) followed the course, recently, with the same program but with both practical resources. Theoretical contents were developed in the same way and by the same professor. The traditional teaching group obtained better results than the technologically supported group, evaluated by the number of students that passed their exams. The third group results were better than the others, with regard to passed exams and marks. Even when computerized improvements have developed a new area giving students a lot of elements to facilitate their approach to imaging structures, the possibility of direct contact with tissues and anatomical elements cannot yet be replaced. We are demonstrating that the best possibility is the correct association of all these resources to complement one another.