Pathology Museum Research Articles

Establishing pathology museum in a new medical college: Processes and challenges

A good pathology museum is intended to strengthen the intellectual material for the undergraduate students and visits to a pathology museum are an indispensable part of teaching pathology to medical students. The preservation of anatomy of pathological specimen is of utmost importance as the new successful current methods of therapy are changing the picture of diseases beyond recognition. We aim to elaborate the processes, difficulties and challenges faced in developing and setting up the pathology museum in a nascent medical college in a rural area. The new museum was set up in accordance with the guidelines provided by the National Medical Commission in addition to the guidelines of the state university. Literature search and discussions with other medical colleges all over the country also played an important role in the setting up of the museum. Our effort is to present our experience as hands on experience for setting up a pathology museum from a scratch for the pathologists, students and the technicians and also to increase the awareness to utilize the museum for innovative and interactive learning sessions for students by usage of QR coded specimens, museum catalogues, interactive E-kiosks and maintaining of log books.

Between objects and lives: Exploring ethics in pathological museums and collections

This article addresses the complex intersection between ethics, museums and pathology collections through a historical analysis that dates back to the 18th century, when medical ethics began to be codified. The text explores the current context, where ethical concerns expand to the medical collections. The objective of this article is to analyze the complex ethical issues involved in the preservation and exhibition of human remains in museums and medical collections, considering historical developments, contemporary challenges and the need for a contextualized ethical approach. To achieve this objective, a methodology was adopted that combines historical research, critical analysis of academic literature and ethical reflection addressing issues related to the preservation and exhibition of human remains in museums and medical collections. Some of the results achieved in this critical analysis include identifying the lack of common guidelines for dealing with human remains in museums, highlighting the delicate balance between conservation and access. It is argued that an effective ethical approach must recognize the complexity of human remains, considering them both as scientific objects and as lived lives, and emphasizes the importance of historical contextualization to ethically discern the treatment of these collections. Ultimately, it is concluded that medical ethics and museological approaches are subject to continuous change, highlighting the importance of keeping up with transformations in the field. Keywords: Deontology; Scientific heritage; Museology

Qualitative Evaluation of Modified Polyvinyl Alcohol Gel Used as A Preservative Medium Compared to Traditional Modified Kaiserling Iii Solution in Pathology Museum

Pathology and anatomy museums preserve body tissues and organs traditionally in modified Kaiserling III solution and display in transparent glass jars, which serve as valuable teaching materials for students. Other techniques tried in preserving specimens are embedding in molten wax, embedding in epoxy resin, and plastination techniques. Modified Carbopol-940 gel has been tried recently as a preservative mounting medium in pathology museum. However, the use of modified Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gel as a preservative medium is not mentioned in the literature. Gel preservative medium can prevent leakage, toxic vapors, and irritation of eyes and skin. Aims: Qualitative evaluation of modified Polyvinyl alcohol gel as a preservative medium for specimens in pathology museums compared to modified Kaiserling III solution over one year. Objectives: 1) To qualitatively evaluate physical integrity of mounted tissue specimens stored in modified Kaiserling III solution and modified Polyvinyl alcohol gel for one year. 2) To qualitatively evaluate physical, chemical and microbiological parameters of modified Kaiserling III solution and modified Polyvinyl alcohol gel for one year. Materials and methods: In this qualitative cross-sectional study, six different organs, two sets each, were preserved in jars containing modified Kaiserling III solution and modified Polyvinyl alcohol gel. The media were evaluated for stability by physical tests, chemical test, and microbiological test, before and after the study. The specimens were assessed for physical disintegration by observing for tissue shredding, and evaluated for histopathological appearances, before and after the study. Results showed mild variability in stability of the preservative media but good tissue integrity of the specimens over a period of one year. 

Qualitative Evaluation of Carbopol-940 Gel Used as a Preservative Medium Compared to Traditional Modified Kaiserling III Solution in Pathology Museum

Introduction: Body organs and tissue specimens have been preserved in human and veterinary anatomy, pathology museums for years in traditional modified Kaiserling III solution. Wax embedding, epoxy-resin embedding and Plastination techniques have also been tried. However, the use of Carbopol-940 gel as a preservative medium is not mentioned in the literature. Gel preservative medium can prevent leakage, toxic vapors, and irritation of eyes and skin. Aims: Qualitative evaluation of carbopol-940 gel as a preservative medium for specimens in pathology museums compared to modified Kaiserling III solution over one year. Objectives: 1) To qualitatively evaluate physical integrity of mounted tissue specimens stored in Kaiserling III solution and carbopol-940 gel for one year. 2) To qualitatively evaluate physical, chemical and microbiological parameters of Kaiserling III solution and carbopol-940 gel for one year. Materials and methods: In this qualitative cross-sectional study, different organs were mounted in jars containing modified Kaiserling III solution and carbopol-940 gel. The media were monitored for stability by physical tests, chemical test, and microbiological test, before and after the study. The organs were monitored for physical disintegration by observing for tissue shredding. Specimens were histologically assessed before and after the study for tissue integrity. Results showed good stability of the preservative media and good tissue integrity of the specimens over a period of one year.

Photogrammetry of “Wet” Pathology Museum Specimens: A Pilot Project

Medical museums around the world have many specimens of historical and teaching value in their collections. Some of these are bones that have been prepared to illustrate normal anatomy. Others consist of organs preserved in liquid fixative (“wet” specimens) and mounted in glass or plexiglass containers that demonstrate the pathology of disease. Digitization of these specimens has the advantage of making them available for viewing by more students or website visitors than is possible in the museum itself. Photogrammetry is one method for doing this that enables the reconstruction of high-quality 3D models using standard specimen photographs. However, although relatively easy to perform on bones, its use with “wet” objects is more difficult and special steps are required to achieve optimal results. Using specimens from the Sir William Osler aortic aneurysm collection at the Maude Abbott Medical Museum, we developed a relatively simple and cost-effective photogrammetry process that gave good reconstructions of most specimens. We expect that future developments, such as the use of artificial intelligence-based techniques, may improve this result.

Incorporating Medical Museum Specimens Into the Training of Environmental Health Students.

Xenobiotics, radiation, and other environmental health risk factors leave their mark on human organs. This can be demonstrated through the use of pathology museum specimens. Upon completing two semesters of postgraduate studies in environmental health, a tour of the Museum of Pathology is offered to postgraduate students at Athens Medical School who are being trained in environmental health. A structured questionnaire is employed to assess the specimens' impact on several aspects: improving students' observational skills, reinforcing the taught material, acquiring new relevant knowledge, and cultivate the social-cognitive ability of empathy. Additionally, students are asked to evaluate the necessity of preserving metadata associated mainly with the social context of the specimens. This research-educational initiative, a component of an ongoing larger project, underscores the significant educational and research value of museum specimens pertaining to environmental health. Furthermore, effectively utilizing such exhibits can enrich the museum experience for visitors and increase public awareness of environmental health issues.

PH evaluation of storage fluids and ancient DNA extraction from wet specimens in pathology museums

Pathology museums host ancient samples obtained during autopsies and generally used for educational purposes in the past. Such collections consist of dry and wet specimens showing diseases that no longer exist or with their natural course unmodified by modern therapies.1,2 In wet specimens, the preservation of macroscopic features due to the storage fluid has a great historical and paleopathological interest. Unfortunately, both original fixatives and storage fluids strongly influence tissue antigens and nucleic acids preservation.3 [...]

Neuropathological images in the great pathology atlases

ABSTRACT In the period between Morgagni’s De Sedibus (1761) and Cruveilhier’s Anatomie pathologique (1829–1842), six pathology atlases were published, in which neuropathological subjects were discussed and depicted. It was a period of transition in medical, technical, and publishing areas. The first three (by Matthew Baillie, Robert Hooper, and Richard Bright) were mainly atlases derived from pathological museum specimens. They were selective rather than comprehensive. Of the other three (by Jean Cruveilhier, James Hope, and Robert Carswell), most of the observations were made during autopsies. These illustrations required special arrangements so they could be executed during the autopsies. These were available in Paris rather than in London, which is the reason why Hope and Carswell made many of the drawings in France. The plates in these three were color lithographs. Baillie’s book contains only figure descriptions. Bright’s and Cruveilhier’s atlases provide case descriptions. Hooper and Hope provide theoretical texts and figure legends. Carswell’s book has 12 theoretical sections, each followed by plates. The relative cost of the atlases varied with the number of plates. Although the authors made use of artists and engravers, several were talented artists themselves. Many common neurological diseases were depicted.

Voices from the past: results of the ESP history of pathology working group survey on pathology museums

While keeping their original purpose of training medical students, pathology museums hold great biological value, offering unique specimens for scientific research through modern radiological, pathological and biomolecular techniques. Moreover, the artefacts, models and drawings displayed in these museums are a precious cultural and artistic heritage. Preservation of the anatomical samples and maintenance of the facilities are neither easy nor inexpensive and call for patronage. The development of a European Pathology Museum Network would undoubtedly facilitate study, access and divulgation of antique pathology collections. Data from a survey conducted by the European Society of Pathology (ESP) History of Pathology Working Group have allowed creation of a comprehensive, multifaceted portrait of European university museums, reflecting their history, diversity, geography, institutional status, stakeholders, projects, professionals, audiences, policies and best practices.

When self-medication goes wrong: the case of argyria at the Padua Morgagni Museum of Pathology.

A unique specimen of argyria is preserved in the Morgagni Museum of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Padua (Italy). It is a stuffed head belonging to a man who decided to cure his syphilis by himself with the so-called infernal stone (silver nitrate) every day for years, thus developing argyria in the second half of the nineteenth century. Paleopathological and historical studies were performed on the specimen to confirm the diagnosis of argyria. Furthermore, a morphological investigation of the specimen was conducted with histological and ultrastructural investigations, including environmental scanning electron microscopy and electron dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, recording high presence of silver in the dermis and epidermis and also other chemical elements correlated to the "infernal stone." A comparison with actual cases may also lead to a common feature: a potential dependence on the perceived benefits brought by silver compound that may sustain a further prolonged intake.

Animating rhizo research: the ethico-politics of a zombie apocalypse survival course

As critical posthumanist and (new) materialist scholarship become more established in educational research, a reconsideration of methodological approaches suited to a radical relational onto-epistemology is required. A popular figuration adopted by researchers to help think and do such research is the Deleuze-Guattarian “rhizome.” Coming to terms with how rhizomic styled research (rhizo research) is undertaken and what it can yield however, can be challenging. In this paper, a study involving a Zombie Apocalypse Survival Course run at a human pathology museum becomes an animated example of rhizo research. Through it we demonstrate how infusing this research with an “analytic of lines” (derived from Deleuze-Guattarian rhizomatics) provides for a practice of research that has the power to shift the ontological and epistemological positions that continue to define qualitative research in education and bring understudied, ethico-political dimensions of it into view.

Wax hearts: seeking the antiquity of cardiac pathology.

Wax models of normal and diseased organs were formerly essential medical teaching tools. The ceroplastic heart models from two 19th century pathology museums at the Universities of Florence (n = 8) and Coimbra (n = 10) were analysed. The Florentine collection comprised congenital malformations as well as infectious and inflammatory disorders. The Coimbra waxworks included congenital defects, cardiac hypertrophy and dilation, valvular pathology and cardiac adiposity. This study focuses on heart diseases and teaching resources in European university hospitals during the 19th century. It also highlights the importance of wax models in medical education both then and today, in an era of informatics and digital photography.

Sociology as a «Strong Science»: Leon Petrazhitsky’s Unfinished Project

Author reviews the Warsaw period works by Leon Petrazycki and his logical and methodological studies in order to reconstruct his project of sociology based on them. In his intention, sociology should have become the common foundation of the whole set of social sciences (theory of law and morality, political economy, etc.). However, according to Petrazycki, sociology does not yet exist as a «strict science», and he considers contemporary sociological concepts as exhibits of the «Scientific Pathology Museum». The author denies traditional identification between Petrazycki’s sociological project and the empirical tradition in sociology. Petrazycki constructs sociology as theoretical science and uses following methodological tools: 1) the principle of adequacy of the theory, 2) the theorem on n + 1 theories; 3) the doctrine of positions (atomic elements of judgments) as the basis for classifying sciences. In Petrazycki’s interpretation, the subject of sociology is evolutionary processes of behavior motivation. Sociology of Petrazycki, known from the summaries of his disciples, does not fully correspond to his own logical and methodological criteria: it is reduced to the theory of genesis and evolution of ethical (moral and legal) motivation. At the same time, he considers sociology of law to be a superfluous discipline. Probably, this incompleteness of the sociology project is a reason why Petrazycki has refused to publish the finished manuscript on sociology. Finally, author discusses how Pitirim Sorokin had used some logical and methodological ideas of Petrazycki to develop his own system of sociology.

Role of Innovations in Pathology Museum in Imparting Knowledge among Medical Students – A Hospital based Prospective Study

Role of Innovations in Pathology Museum in Imparting Knowledge among Medical Students – A Hospital based Prospective Study

The antiquity of hydrocephalus: the first full palaeo-neuropathological description.

The Pathology Museum of the University of Florence houses a rich collection of anatomical specimens and over a hundred waxworks portraying pathological conditions occurring in the nineteenth century, when the museum was established. Clinical and autopsy findings of these cases can still be retrieved from the original museum catalogue, offering a rare opportunity for retrospective palaeo-pathological diagnostics. We present a historical case of severe hydrocephalus backed by modern-day anthropological, radiological and molecular analyses conducted on the skeleton of an 18-month-old male infant deceased in 1831. Luigi Calamai (1796-1851), a wax craftsman of La Specola workshop in Florence, was commissioned to create a life-sized wax model of the child's head, neck and upper thorax. This artwork allows us to appreciate the cranial and facial alterations determined by 30lb of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) accumulated within the cerebral ventricular system. Based on the autopsy report, gross malformations of the neural tube, tumours and haemorrhage could be excluded. A molecular approach proved helpful in confirming sex. We present this case as the so-far most compelling case of hydrocephalus in palaeo-pathological research.

Three Skulls Dating from the French Revolutionary Years Diagnosed with Tinea Capitis: A Paleopathologic Approach.

The Musée Dupuytren was a Parisian pathology museum established in 1835. This museum hosted 3 skulls with severe craniofacial lesions initially tagged as aggressive forms of tinea capitis. The aim of this study was to investigate these specimens and discuss the initial diagnosis. Historical investigations were conducted based on the biographic data from the tags of the 3 skulls and entries on the catalog of the museum. Age was determined using dentition and the patency of cranial base synchondroses. The computed tomography scans were performed using standard medical devices. The 3 skulls were from the late 18th to early 19th century. Skull № 1 was a 5-year-old child and presented with microcephaly and extensive vault osteolysis compatible with an aggressive benign lesion, a malignant tumor, or a chronic infection. Skull № 2 was a 12- to 18-year-old teenager and presented with symmetrical porotic hyperostosis compatible with undernutrition and various hematologic conditions causing prolonged anemia, but also with chronic inflammation and/or infection. Skull № 3 was also from a 12- to 18-year-old teenager and presented with focal temporal osteolysis compatible with an aggressive benign or a low-grade malignant temporal soft-tissue lesion or with chronic infection. These skulls contribute to the understanding of the concept of tinea in the 19th century. They are furthermore windows on the sanitary and social conditions in Paris in the years following the French revolution and during the Napoleonian wars.

Origin and Development of Medical Museum in Padua

AbstractThe scientific museology began in Padua with the Museum of Natural Philosophy of Vallisneri. The purpose of this museum was to educate students and demonstrate what Vallisneri called “philosophical curiosity.” The Padua medical museology started with the anatomical museum of Morgagni in 1756. Morgagni planned the creation of a museum of anatomical and pathological specimens. The cabinets of obstetrics made by Calza in the 1760s was composed by a series of anatomic models in wax and clay, used for Calza's practical teaching to the pupils. These models represented the physiology and the pathology of the pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. There are reports of a “pathological cabinet” in Padua from the early years of the XIX century: Caldani, Fanzago and Cortese collected pathological specimens in different part of the university. However, the final passage from Cabinet collection to pathological Museum took place in the early 1870s, thanks to Lodovico Brunetti.

Three-Dimensional Pathology Specimen Modeling Using "Structure-From-Motion" Photogrammetry: A Powerful New Tool for Surgical Pathology.

Three-dimensional (3D) photogrammetry is a method of image-based modeling in which data points in digital images, taken from offset viewpoints, are analyzed to generate a 3D model. This modeling technique has been widely used in the context of geomorphology and artificial imagery, but has yet to be used within the realm of anatomic pathology. To describe the application of a 3D photogrammetry system capable of producing high-quality 3D digital models and its uses in routine surgical pathology practice as well as medical education. We modeled specimens received in the 2 participating laboratories. The capture and photogrammetry process was automated using user control software, a digital single-lens reflex camera, and digital turntable, to generate a 3D model with the output in a PDF file. The entity demonstrated in each specimen was well demarcated and easily identified. Adjacent normal tissue could also be easily distinguished. Colors were preserved. The concave shapes of any cystic structures or normal convex rounded structures were discernable. Surgically important regions were identifiable. Macroscopic 3D modeling of specimens can be achieved through Structure-From-Motion photogrammetry technology and can be applied quickly and easily in routine laboratory practice. There are numerous advantages to the use of 3D photogrammetry in pathology, including improved clinicopathologic correlation for the surgeon and enhanced medical education, revolutionizing the digital pathology museum with virtual reality environments and 3D-printing specimen models.

Why Students Choose or Don’t Choose to Use an Online Pathology Museum

Online materials are replacing traditional pathology museums and microscopes. The interactivity of these ranges from static pictures to virtual slides. In this study, we examined how students chose to interact with magnifiable, rotating, macroscopic specimens versus static pictures. The study focuses on motivation to interact with the extended online resource when it was supplementary to, but not required to, answer questions in an online assignment. Students in a fourth-year anatomic pathology course (N = 102) completed online clinical-case-based learning activities. Students’ interaction with online rotatable specimens and the underlying reasons were investigated using a self-developed online post-course survey. The 360° rotatable specimens were viewed by 81% of students. Coding of responses to open-end questions identified two short-term motivators (more information and relevant to the question) and two long-term motivators (a better understanding of pathology and helpful for examinations) for viewing dynamic specimen representations. Students reported two reasons for not viewing every online specimen: They could complete activities using the static images, and long loading times for pathology museum pages. Students who interacted with relevant online specimens were motivated by both the short-term and long-term expectancy value. The research has implications for designing other online resources—the key to students using them is to design for expectancy value.

An insight into thehistory ofanatomopathological museums. Part 2.

The second part ofthecomprehensive work concerning pathology museums and collections presents their history since the19th century. Theevolution and specialisation ofmuseums, depending on theattitude oftheir creators and geographic localization, have been analysed. Thechanging aspects ofobtaining theexhibits and how they were preserved, presented, and stored are also apart ofthis work. Themethods ofhuman organ fixation reached excellence in the19th century, but therarity ofsome pathologies urged thescientists to recreate them artificially in models for didactic purposes. In the19th and 20th centuries one could observe theflourishing development with aplateau and then decline from thesecond part ofthe20th century to thereorientation ofthemuseums that took place in Europe and North America. Thehistory ofanatomopathological museums is connected with ethical problems related to acquisition ofexhibits in previous centuries and especially during World War II. Thechanging purpose ofthecollections, as well as their unclear future and theimpact on thevisitors, are evident. For thelast 50 years, many museums have been closing completely, but some collections have been digitalised and are still in permanent use. Theuniqueness ofold specimens with certain diseases, often long gone and not observed anymore, makes them important in many aspects nowadays. Pathology museums are themselves relics ofthepast, being at thesame time tangible proof ofways ofdevelopment in medicine, but also away ofpreservation ofhuman knowledge in aspecial type ofrelation with thehuman body.