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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Bob Anderson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2025 American Association of Clinical Anatomists and British Association of Clinical Anatomists. Nowadays, consent to use donor bodies for medical education and research is obtained from the body donors and their families before the donation. Recently, the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) published guidelines that could restrict the appearance of cadaveric images in commercial anatomical resources such as textbooks and other educational products. These guidelines state that the donor must expressly consent to using such images for this purpose. Cadaveric photos and drawings made from dissections of cadavers have been used in anatomy textbooks and atlases for hundreds of years. They are invaluable for anatomy students and clinical/surgical practitioners. The IFAA guidelines should not restrict the use of those older books; to do so would infringe the rights of those seeking knowledge from these resources. As the images in such textbooks and atlases are anonymized and are used for teaching and research, and the donors and their families are informed about this before the donation, we believe no additional consent is needed. It is impossible to separate educational from “commercial” usage entirely in any situation, e.g., publications from publishers and the use of cadavers in medical schools. Therefore, our best efforts to avoid unethical use of cadaveric images by following traditional consent processes are still needed so that more people will reap the benefits from them. As senior textbook/atlas authors/editors from over 10 countries, we believe that using cadaveric images in anatomy textbooks is appropriate, and no additional consent should be necessary. Such usage falls within the good faith of professionals using these invaluable gifts.
Author(s): Iwanaga J, Kim H-J, Akita K, Logan BM, Hutchings RT, Ottone N, Nonaka Y, Anand M, Burns D, Singh V, Peris-Celda M, Martinez-Soriano F, Apaydin N, Hanna A, Yoshioka N, Fernandez-Miranda J, Hur M-S, Shoja MM, Saremi F, Reina F, Tabira Y, Carrera A, Spratt JD, Ho SY, Mori S, Komune N, Watanabe K, Prats-Galino A, De Andres J, Reina MA, Abrahams PH, Anderson RH, Ibaragi S, Loukas M, Tubbs RS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Clinical Anatomy
Year: 2025
Volume: 38
Issue: 2
Pages: 222-225
Print publication date: 01/03/2025
Online publication date: 04/01/2025
Acceptance date: 15/12/2024
Date deposited: 22/10/2025
ISSN (print): 0897-3806
ISSN (electronic): 1098-2353
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/ca.24258
DOI: 10.1002/ca.24258
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