Medical students will soon be able to dissect cadavers twice - once for real and again on a special computer program that simulates everything from or

Computers let medical students operate on digital cadavers
Medical students will soon be able to dissect cadavers twice - once for real and again on a special computer program that simulates everything from organs to blood vessels and bones, according to the University of Heidelberg. The university says it will be the first to offer a seminar of this kind in Germany. It says the 3D imaging program should help students to orientate themselves within the human body and better learn anatomical structures.

The new course, called "virtual anatomy," has been running parallel to traditional anatomy courses with cadavers since the start of the 2007/2008 winter semester.

"This way the students can view structures that are hard to reach and usually have to be cut away," said Sara Doll, who runs the university clinic's anatomy courses.

The course was developed by the Institute for Anatomy in cooperation with the DKFZ German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg.