Hi

it depends on the structure which you want to dissect

Hi again

For example if you wish to dissect superficial structures such as cutaneus nerves or smas for face lifting 24h will be ok. but if you wish to thaw all the tissue deep inside of the specimen 48-72h

Also you can check this topic of RG

"How many times can a fresh frozen unembalmed cadaver be used for surgical training?"

In addition, how long you will work on the defrosted tissue is very important.

If you work more than a couple of hours, decomposition begins after 3-4 frozen - defrosted cycle.

Best regards

For anyone who finds this later - we transferred one of our specimen from a -20*C freezer into a +4*C large refrigerated room (i.e. the subzero temp of the specimen was not decreasing the ambient temp) and implanted a temperature probe 2" deep.

Upon implant, the probe read -17*C. After 4 days, the probe read 0*C and the tissue was very noticeably thawed. It's likely the deeper tissue was still frozen but it's doubtful that it will take more than a day or two for the specimen to be completely thawed.

Please check

1. Shogo Hayashi, Munekazu Naito,Shinichi Kawata, Masahiro Itoh. History and future of human cadaver preservation for surgical training: from formalin to saturated salt solution method. Anatomical Science International 91(1):1-7

2. Mitesh Sharma, David Macafee, MA, Nagarajan Pranesh, Alan F. Horgan, Construct Validity of Fresh Frozen Human Cadaver as a Training Model in Minimal Access Surgery .JSLS (2012)16:345–352