The Visible Human Dataset: the anatomical platform for human simulation.

One goal of a medical school education is to teach the anatomy of the living human. With the exception of some surface anatomy, the morphology education that goes on during a surgical procedure, and patient observation, live human anatomy is most often taught by simulation. Medical anatomy courses utilize cadavers to approximate the live human. Case-based curricula simulate a patient and present symptoms, signs, and history to mimic reality for the future practitioner. Radiology has provided images of the morphology, function, and metabolism of living humans but with images foreign to most novice observers. With the Visible Human database, computer simulation of the live human body will provide revolutionary transformations in anatomical education.