Anatomy Academy

Recently I was given an amazing opportunity to improve my dissection skills – something I am not very good at, whilst also allowing me to consolidate and reaffirm my anatomical knowledge, something I was sure to forget over the summer break. This was through an 'Anatomy Academy' put on at one of the London Medical Schools, and I thought it would be interesting to write about what interested me the most about it.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was being given a chance to dissect a part of the human body individually, as it would not only help me improve my dissection skills but also help me reaffirm my knowledge, as it is always helpful to see things that you read about in lectures and notes. And I must say the dissection sessions definitely did not disappoint me. I went in hoping to get a head and neck specimen, as it is the part of human anatomy I am most confident and fascinated by. Thankfully I was assigned to a head specimen and was able to do a superficial dissection to my heart’s content.

I initially began not knowing anything, and having no confidence in my dissection skills as in the anatomy sessions provided as part of my course it is often 10-12 students assigned to one specimen, which rarely provides you with a chance to dissect individually or improve your skills. One of the first things I realised was to be careful, as most of the vessels and nerves in the head are superficial and even when removing the skin (which is what is started with) one had to be careful as there was not much connective tissue or fat protecting the structures underneath.

In particular structures which I found with relative easy, and I was absolutely thrilled to have dissected include the superficial temporal artery, which was very prominent especially near the parietal bone, and the facial artery which was particularly tortious as it ran above the mandible branching to the nose to form the lateral nasal artery. Additionally, I was able to dissect out the parotid duct (which I was amazed to find was actually quite massive) and several branches of the facial nerve (including the marginal mandibular, temporal, zygomatic and buccal) branching out from the main branch. Another key structure I was able to dissect out was the facial vein, which joined with the retromandibular vein to form the Internal Jugular (all of which I was able to find). Additionally, because I was only doing a superficial dissection I did not dissect the muscles of mastication or facial expression, however I was able to expose temporalis as it fanned out to attach to the temporal bone.

In retrospect one of the things I could have, and indeed should have done better was my dissection involving the parotid gland. Unfortunately, the parotid gland seemed to cover a majority of the face of my specimen, and I thought it would be easier to remove the parotid in its entirety to expose the structures beneath it (in particular the arteries and veins). I was able to dissect the parotid gland out completely as one structure, however it meant I cut the parotid duct, which made it harder to find later, and the cervical branch of the facial nerve.

Overall I am quite proud of my dissection, as I feel I have improved my dissecting skills, and I was able to find a majority of the structures I was looking for. Additionally, despite cutting the parotid gland out, I am glad to have done it as I was able to find the main facial branch and then follow it to find most of its divisions.