With a press of a button, a student takes a midline cut of a man. Inside, his organs reveal themselves, along with the violent purple cancer spreading through his intestines. With a slide of a lever, the purple is quickly replaced by a healthy pink color.

This scene, however, is not performed on a real man, but on a virtual touchscreen machine. The Upper School recently became the first high school in the world to buy an Anatomage 3D interactive virtual cadaver dissection table.

Prior to attaining the 3D interactive virtual cadaver dissection table, students would only have been able to learn through 2D figures such as models and pictures. The table allows students to virtually cut organs in different orientations and rotate them. Students have the opportunity to look inside a human body and go to any depth they want because of the images made by Computerized Tomography (CT) scans.

The table looks at real structures on human bodies, a feat which would only be possible if students had a physical cadaver to dissect. The table will primarily be used by Human Anatomy and Physiology (HAPy) students, but Biology students also have the opportunity to use the table during the human systems unit.

“The anatomy table takes us to another level in terms of understanding human anatomy and physiology,” Science Department Chair Anita Chetty said.

Students will have the opportunity to study human organs in detail and see their relationship to each other, as well as the pathology of organs when they begin to fail.

It shows a contrast between fully functioning and ordinary organs as well as abnormally functioning organs.

Pre-programed in the machine is a male cadaver who developed a metastatic melanoma and colon cancer. By looking through layers of the body, students can see how cancer spreads by examining which organs were the most affected to where the cancer eventually stopped spreading.

Not only are there pre-installed cuts, but students also have the ability to slice through section of the body by moving a slider and pressing a button. Once the virtual cut is made, the student can shift the organs around but cannot virtually take them out. Use of the virtual table avoids a process which has a higher risk of error – using a scalpel to physically cut through muscle and skin.

“[The table] was super cool because it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be; it was close to life size and really high definition,” HAPy student Archana Podury (12) said. “[The cadavers were those of] real people, and she told us about their stories. Most were really young people who died. One patient was a guy from Korea. His parents wouldn’t let him donate his body, [so the makers] got a graphic designer to redesign his face. We paid respect to the people who donated their organs [before we used the table].”

The table was acquired as a result of six parents who each donated $10,000.

“In terms of impact, it’s just incredible that this small group of parents are actually impacting the lives of so many other people,” Chetty said.

This article was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on Oct. 17, 2014.