The Cadaver Dissection Guide (CDG) was originally developed in 2005 as a dissection lab resource for first year medical and dental students at the University of Colorado. The goal of the CDG is to provide students with brief, concise instructions for cadaver dissection that are linked to 3D and cross sectional views in the VH Dissector.
The first version of the CDG had hyperlinks to VH Dissector 3D and cross sectional views, but was not written as a stand-alone anatomy resource and required the use of both a textbook and atlas.
Next, yellow boxes covering major relationships for each region of the body (example below) were added. The relationship boxes were integrated with the dissection steps and served two purposes. First, they covered many clinically relevant anatomical relationships. Second, they gave students valuable information for identifying structures in a cadaver based upon their relationships to other structures.
- The hyoid bone is positioned superior to the thyroid cartilage.
In the current version of the CDG, these same relationships are also available in the "Summary" section for each of the five body regions.
Recently, many more features have been added, including:
- Labeled dissection photographs
- Photographs illustrating joint movements
- Interactive photographs of bones and skull views
- Interactive radiological images
- Surface anatomy landmarks and cutaneous innervations
- Interactive dissection quizzes
- A revised overview for each dissection/observation region
- A comprehensive summary of anatomical structures
- An observation step that matches each dissection step
Together, these features have transformed the CDG into a stand-alone anatomy resource, providing an integrated dissector and atlas. The latest addition of observations makes the CDG a valuable tool for students observing the work done by their peers and for students of an entirely prosection based laboratory.