Substitution of formaldehyde in cross anatomy is possible.

The recent publication by Hauptmann et al. (1) in the Journal provided clear evidence for increased mortality from cancer induced by exposure to formalin, as outlined by The Final Report on Carcinogens Background Document for Formaldehyde of the National Toxicology Program (2). Hauptmann's data, along with a report by Figure 1. A–C) Examples of ethanol-and glycerin-fixed human tissue specimens are shown. A) The Erb's punctum nervo-sum (asterisk) is depicted in the lateral view of a dissected neck. Note the vivid color of the underlying sternocleidomas-toid muscle (M). C = clavicula, D = deltoid muscle, G = great auricular nerve, Pg = parotid gland, S = supraclavicular nerves, T = transverse cervical nerve. Specimen was fixed for 12 months before picture was taken. B) The opened left ventricle shows the aortic valve (V), the papillary muscles (P), and the ostia to the left coronary artery (Ol) and to the right coronary artery (Or). A = aorta, Ct = chordae ten-dineae, L = left ventricular myocardium, Tc = trabeculae carneae. Specimen was fixed for 15 months before picture was taken. C) The situs thoracis with peri-cardium (Pc), lungs (Ld = Lobus dexter, Ls = Lobus sinister), and phrenic nerve (Pn). Note the preservation of the neuro-vascular bundle of the ventral medias-tinum (Pv = pericardiacophrenic vessels). A = aorta, Iv = internal thoracic vessels, Vs = superior vena cava, Tp = truncus pulmonalis. The specimen was fixed for 12 months before picture was taken. Viegas et al. (3) demonstrating that medical students are exposed to formalin concentrations greater than 5 ppm during macro-scopic examinations, have caused medical institutions to reconsider the use of for-malin to fix and preserve cadavers and tissues. The emerging data indicating the toxicity of formalin have resulted in the closure of German dissecting rooms in medical schools and could potentially result in poor gross anatomy training and strongly affect the quality of medical staff education. A recent complaint by surgeons that a lack of knowledge in anatomy is already prevalent among young doctors (4) indicates that the development of new nontoxic fixatives are necessary to allow medical students to adequately study gross anatomy in a safe environment. To address this problem, the Institute of Anatomy at Universität Leipzig has developed an approach to conserve human cadavers for dissection courses with the use of a fixative consisting mainly of eth-anol and glycerin. This room temperature 1.5% glycerin solution is perfused …