The National level Hands-on Workshop on Plastination was organized by the Department of Anatomy on 25th June 2022. The workshop aimed to help the participants to understand the principle behind the different types like Whole body/organ plastination, Luminal cast plastination, and Sheet plastination. The hands-on workshop will aid the participants to be equipped with skills of plastination.

The resource person was Mr.Harikrishnan P, Assistant Professor, in charge of the Plastination lab, Travancore medical college, Kollam. Kerala, who is the founder of Plastodur Plastination Lab. Plastodur is the first and only organization to design, develop, and supply indigenously designed and developed equipment and resins for plastination in India.

Dr.H.Basavana Gowdappa, Principal, Dr.Suma M.N., Vice-Principal(pre and para clinical), and Sri S.R.Satish Chandra- Administrative Officer, JSS Medical College, and Mr. Harikrishnan P graced the occasion.

The sessions were the introduction to Plastination, whole organ, and sheet plastination. Speaker gave an overview of plastination techniques, like fixation, forced impregnation in the vaccum chamber, and curing or hardening. The use of the Plastination Chamber was demonstrated, the participants were divided into small batches, and each batch was given hands-on how to control the vacuum and release of acetone.

The luminal Casting technique was also discussed, which is best to study lumen and tubular structures, which can be used to enrich the knowledge of the internal structure of anatomy. The type of silicon to be used and its advantages and disadvantages were discussed.

The concluding session mainly stressed on what can go wrong during the different steps of the procedure were discussed. The most common problems faced are shrinkage, change of color, and deformation.

Demonstration of plastinated specimens like – knee joint, hand, the lower end of the leg with muscles and tendon, fetuses done with epoxy resin and silicon to show the difference in quality, kidney vascular pattern, stomach, larynx, and various luminal cast specimens, renal artery and renal vein which was a great inspiration and motivation for anatomists all over the country.

31 participants registered for the workshop, from across the country, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, JIPMER, Pune, Bangalore, Tanjore and from west Indies. etc.