Liver displacement during ventilation in Thiel embalmed human cadavers – a possible model for research and training in minimally invasive therapies

Abstract

Respiration-related movement of organs is a complication in a range of diagnostic and interventional procedures. The development and validation of techniques to compensate for such movement requires appropriate models. Human cadavers embalmed with the Thiel method remain flexible and could provide a suitable model. In this study liver displacement during ventilation was assessed in eight Thiel embalmed cadavers, all of which showed thoracic and abdominal motion. Four cadavers displayed realistic lung behaviour, one showed some signs of pneumothorax after prolonged ventilation, one had limited filling of the lungs, and two displayed significant leakage of air into the thorax. A coronal slice containing the largest section through the liver was imaged with a real-time Fast Gradient Echo (FGR) MRI sequence: Craniocaudal displacement of the liver was then determined from a time-series of slices. The maximum liver displacement observed in the cadavers ranged from 7 to 35 mm. The ventilation applied was comparable to tidal breathing at rest and the results found for liver displacement are similar to values in the literature for respiratory motion of the liver under similar conditions. This indicates that Thiel embalmed cadavers have potential as a model for research and training in minimally invasive procedures.

Key words::

• Cadaver model
• respiration
• liver displacement

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Timur Saliev and Helen McLeod for their assistance during some of the later experiments. This work is funded by MRC-DPFS grant D041. Dr Toomey has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement no 238802.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.