A comparative study of effectiveness of cadaver dissection versus computer assisted dissection

Students who participated in the actual cadaver dissection, supplemented by computer assisted virtual dissection scored significantly higher (p = 0.004) as compared to any of dissection methods used alone on post-dissection assessment tests. The proportion of students achieving more than 50% marks was also significantly higher with the combination method. Analysis of the survey questionnaire indicated differences in attitudes of students for actual dissection and computer-simulated virtual dissection. Vast majority of students (97.6%, n = 48) stated that computer assisted dissection cannot replace the actual dissection of cadavers, but were in the favor of incorporating the computer assisted virtual dissection as an integral part of teaching of human anatomy as a complementary tool to the actual dissection.