UKZN hosts a Fruitful International Conference on Plastination

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The Discipline of Clinical Anatomy at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in conjunction with the International Society for Plastination successfully hosted a fruitful 12th Interim International Conference on Plastination. The Conference ran from 2 - 7 July and was held at the Graduate School of Business (GSB) Auditorium on UKZN’s Westville campus.

Plastination is a technique used to preserve bodies or body parts for teaching and research purposes.

This Conference was the very first of its kind to be held in Africa. UKZN was honored to host the high profile conference and to welcome national and international speakers and participants who made this Conference a success.

This event allowed participants an opportunity to exchange ideas concerning challenges in plastination and anatomy education in sub-Saharan Africa. More significantly is the capacity building afforded to UKZN and South African participants through the hands-on workshop by the best in plastination globally?

Dr Onyemaechi Azu, Conference Co-Coordinator and academic at UKZN’s Department of Clinical Anatomy, School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences (LMMS) said there is an increase in the intake of students at medical schools but a shortage in the number of specimens for training and research activities.

‘With the shortage of cadavers for teaching and learning and research globally, plastination will become an essential technique to increase the resources available for demonstration and teaching in anatomical sciences,’ said Azu.

Amongst speakers  who did oral presentations and  poster presentations at the conference was Head of the Morphological Anatomy Division at the University of Witwatersrand and member of the Federative International Committee for Ethics and Medical Humanities, Professor Amadi Ihunwo, who deliberated on ethical issues around plastination.

Respected international experts in plastination like Professor Dmitry Starchik from the International Morphological Centre in Russia focused his talk on “Silicone Techniques at room temperature” while Professor Rafael Latorre from the University of Murcia in Spain discussed “Epoxy Technique Overview in Plastination”.  Professor Kees de Jong from the Medical School of Zhejiang University Hangzhou in China eagerly shared “principles of polyester techniques in Plastination”.

Professor Scott Lozanoff from John A Burns School of Medicine in Hawaii, USA demonstrated the use of plastinated specimen for developing augmented reality learning experiences.

This Conference was supported and made possible by UKZN’s Teaching and Learning Office (UTLO), the National Research Foundation (NRF), Netcare, Joint Medical Holdings Ltd (JMH), Biodur, and UKZN’s School of LMMS.

Words by: Lihle Sosibo