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Project Methodologies
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Via Lifesource Via the Anatomy Bequest Program Perfusion Fixation Access to the Library

We have also received some of the specimens in our heart library from the University of Minnesota Medical School's Anatomy Bequest Program. Bequest is a program in which donors give their whole body to medical education and research. We have received both fresh (un-fixed) and fixed heart specimens from the Bequest Program.

More specifically, we perform fresh cadaver studies to better analyze the relative orientations of an individual's heart relative to other thoracic anatomy. Furthermore, we can investigate the deployment of cardiac medical devices that require femoral access (access through a vein or artery in the leg). After each of these studies, we isolate and perfusion fix these hearts to be preserved as additional anatomical specimens in our heart library.

Finally a large number of specimens in our heart library are obtained via cadavers from the University of Minnesota's Advanced Cardiac Anatomy and Physiology Course. Every January for the past decade, the University offers a one-week long intensive cardiac course in which the students learn human cardiac anatomy through a cadaver lab. After the course is completed, the hearts are isolated and stored in our library. A large number of these cadaveric hearts have unique anatomies and/or cardiac devices within. The fixation process used to fix the cadavers is different than the perfusion fixation process we employ with hearts obtained fresh. Using the arterial system, the blood is removed from the body and replaced with an anatomical embalming solution. Eight to ten gallons is generally injected, which adds around 80 lbs of weight to the body.

 
 
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