Dear colleague,

From what we've learnt with more than 30 years experience in the Dept. of Anatomy of the Nova Lisbon  Medical school (POrtugal), the questions you ask are strictly dependent on the materials you use, on the embalming method, and on the temperatures you use to refrigerate/deep freeze the embalmed bodies, and also how long they stay at room temperature... 

May I recommend some work, on this subject, that my department has performed recently?

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/244479992_Improvement_of_the_embalming_perfusion_method_the_innovation_and_the_results_by_light_and_scanning_electron_microscopy

(Hope this was useful! 

Kind regards from Portugal

Article Improvement of the Embalming Perfusion Method: The Innovatio...

Dear colleague. About your question How many times can the fresh frozen unembalmed cadaver be used for surgical training? Depends on multiple factors : room temperature, storage temperature, work time, initial state of preservation  of  the material etc.

We , has been devoting efforts for a few years, on this issue of perfecting embalming techniques with good preservation of tissues, to permit undergraduate students to dissect regularly, even in our warm climate.

Lately, we have achieved such good results with our embalming technique , that we are currently using some of our cadaveric donations for post graduation courses, hands-on surgical specialisation courses, and surgical innovations training.

Our specimens keep a well preserved for more than 2 years, for surgical trainning, concernning  in terms of muscular tissues , as with abdominal and pelvic organs.

I recommend the reference to an article published by us, where you'll find photographic evidence of our work, in a full-text available on Research Gate:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/244479992_Improvement_of_the_embalming_perfusion_method_the_innovation_and_the_results_by_light_and_scanning_electron_microscopy

Our 15 years experience with these conservation methods are still under improvement.

In our next work, we will present reference to the experimental use of several embalming techniques, with conservation times between one or one and half year, up to five years.

Our best results were obtained during our first years of experimentation, when we developed our perfusion pump in straight collaboration with CEFITEC and the Department of Physics of the Faculty of Technological Sciences of our University.

The development of this perfusion pump allows complete vascular perfusion in closed circuit with perfect control of debits and capillary perfusion, with pulsed impregnation of tissues, simulating the cardiac rhythms.

The specimens we use, both for undergraduate dissections (over a period of six weeks of manipulations), as for post graduation courses and surgical training sessions, bear great quality and endurance, as you can check from this Prezzi presentation in attachment http://prezi.com/qk-muuogpev7/eaca-lisbon-dissection-room-june2013/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy.

best regards

joao

Article Improvement of the Embalming Perfusion Method: The Innovatio...

Interesting question. We rarely use fresh frozen material in our teaching due to problems with preservation. Some of the surgical training does utilize fresh frozen material, but it is typically a one-time usage. Multiple freeze-thaw cycles will quickly degrade tissue (try it with a bone-in chicken) and bacterial growth is nearly impossible to prevent. Some of the above mentioned embalming techniques may help. Standard embalming allows for dissection, but the tissue is too stiff for a 'life-like' feel as is typically desired in surgical training. Short answer...3-4 times for minimally invasive techniques, once for more aggressive surgeries. Best of luck.

I totally agree with Randalls estimation, but even with certain embalming treatment I would not expect an adequate use for more than 3 times.

As an alternative for fresh frozen, we developed the "Fix for Life" (F4L) method, a low-hazardous embalming method preserving life-like morphology.

http://fixforlifeembalming.com/

Conference Paper Fix for Life. The Development of a New Embalming Method to P...

Hi,

I totally agree with your opinions. But in our department we prefer to provide the body part parallel to the aim of the surgical training (not for student lectures). For example we provided "fresh frozen head and necks" for ear-nose-throat surgeons' training or only upper extremities for orthopedics. Thus we provide the materials cheaper. And it is more easy to preserve

The best to multiple uses and to long time is the formalized cadaver.