ABSTRACT
Background: The vertebrate spleen has important functions in immunity and haematopoiesis, many of whichhave been well studied. In contrast, we know very less about the mechanisms governing its early embryonicdevelopment. There is little research on morphomertric analysis of spleen in human fetal cadavers.Aims and objectives: The presentstudy was carried out to determine the location and dimensions of human fetalspleen.Material and methods: The study was carried out on 50 dead human fetal spleens (30 males and 20 females),aged between 9 - 32 weeks of gestation. The location of spleen and its relation with the neighboring structures,notches on borders, major ligaments and the shape of spleen and its hilum were studied. The length, width,thickness, and weight of the spleen were measured.Results: The average length, width and thickness of fetal spleen of gestational age between 12 to 16 weeks were7.65mm, 4.71mm, 2.93mm. respectively and mean weight was.065gm. In >16 to 20 weeks, mean length was10.9mm, width was 7.05mm, thickness was 5mm. respectively and weight was 0.461gm. In >20 to 24 weeks, meanlength was 13.45mm,width was 8.38m , thickness was 5.72mm. and weight was.580gm. In >24 to 28 weeks, meanlength was 19.8mm, width was 12.43mm, thickness was 8.67mm.and weight was .997gm. In >28 weeks gestationalage , mean length was 26.5mm, width was 13.5mm, thickness was 9.2mm.and weight was 1.91gm. Spleen wasfound to be of three different shapes - leaf shaped (two faced), wedge shaped (three faced) and pyramid shaped(four faced). In 44 cases (88%) it was wedge shaped, in four cases (8%) it was two faced and in two cases (4%) itwas pyramid shaped.Conclusion: The expression of morphometric parameters of the spleen at different gestational ages can be usedin determining various pathologies of the spleen and may also contribute to future studies on this subject
ABSTRACT
Background: The advent of 21st century has brought about revolutionary changes in medical education. Medicaleducators are debating the effective application of traditional and newer teaching and learning (T/L)methodologies. The present study aimed to obtain the student’s perspective on the present T/L methodology inanatomy and also the content and duration of anatomy teaching so as to help the educators design a moreeffective anatomy T/L programme.Methodology: The 4th, 5th year MBBS students and interns were administered questionnaires to rate the T/L aidsand give suggestions to improve the teaching of anatomy through close and open ended questions.Results: Amongst the teaching aids, excellent / good rating was given by 80.3% students to classroom teaching onthe black-board, followed by 68.3% to dissection. Amongst the learning aids, excellent / good rating was given by72.3% students to dissection and 67% to lectures. Further, 55% students opined that anatomy should be taughtover 12 months (excluding examinations) whereas 37.6% suggested it to be taught in 18 months. The need tointroduce anatomy teaching sessions during the later part of the medical curriculum was felt by majority (95.2%)of the students.Conclusions: The traditional T/L methods like dissection, lectures and black-board teaching are preferred by thenewer generation learners also and should be integrated with newer teaching modalities and modern technology.The anatomy syllabus being taught in the present MBBS curriculum is adequate, however the time allotted foranatomy teaching needs to be increased by 2 to 6 months. The study further suggests that there is a need toreinforce anatomy teaching in the clinical years.