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Dissection, digitization, and three-dimensional modelling: a high-fidelity anatomical visualization and imaging technology

  • Original Article
  • Revealing the Underlying Morphology: Challenging Reductionism Through 3D Visualization for Future Anatomy
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Abstract

Technological advances have enabled the development of a novel technique of dissection, digitization and three-dimensional modelling of skeletal muscle and other tissues including neurovascular structures as in situ over the last 25 years. Meticulous serial dissection followed by digitization is used to collect Cartesian coordinate data of the contractile and connective tissue elements throughout the entire muscle volume. The Cartesian coordinate can then be used to construct high-fidelity three-dimensional models that capture the spatial arrangement of the contractile and connective tissue elements as in situ enabling detailed studies of the arrangement of the fiber bundles and their attachment sites to aponeuroses, tendon, and bone. In the laboratory, we have concurrently developed a computational methodology to quantify architectural parameters, including fiber bundle length, pennation angle, volume, physiological cross-sectional area in three-dimensional space. In this paper, a flexor digitorum superficialis specimen will be used to demonstrate the high-fidelity outcomes of dissection, digitization, and three-dimensional modelling. This three-step methodology provides a unique opportunity to study muscle architecture in three dimensions, as in situ. Knowledge translation from the anatomy laboratory to the clinical setting has been highly successful.

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Data sharing not applicable as no datasets generated and/or analysed for this study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank those who donated their bodies to science so that anatomical research could be performed. Results from such research can potentially increase mankind's overall knowledge that can then improve patient care. Therefore, these donors and their families deserve our highest gratitude. The authors acknowledge the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences and the Division of Anatomy, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 7-10-2, Tomogaoka, Suma-Ku, Kobe, 654-0142, Japan

    Takamitsu Arakawa

  2. Musculoskeletal and Peripheral Nerve Anatomy Laboratory, Division of Anatomy, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle Room 1158, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada

    Emma Campisi, John Tran & Anne M. R. Agur

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  1. Takamitsu Arakawa
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  2. Emma Campisi
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  3. John Tran
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  4. Anne M. R. Agur
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by TA, EC, JT, and AA. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AA, TA and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Anne M. R. Agur.

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Arakawa, T., Campisi, E., Tran, J. et al. Dissection, digitization, and three-dimensional modelling: a high-fidelity anatomical visualization and imaging technology. Anat Sci Int 98, 337–342 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12565-023-00725-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12565-023-00725-7

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