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Every surgeon is first an anatomist....

Sandra Krishnan • Aug 14, 2021

I still remember starting medical school especially Day 1 of Anatomy Dissection....

Every surgeon is first an anatomist

I recall my excitement, wearing a fresh lab coat and entering the enormous Dissection Hall. Lining one entire wall were large tubs, where donated and unclaimed bodies were soaking in formalin. The minute they opened the tubs, the powerful, unmistakable smell of formalin permeated the air. My eyes started to water, the stinging was intense, and one or two students fainted. (Not me!)

We were 16 to an aluminium covered table, eight on either side, again formalin fluid everywhere, finding its way to the holes in the table. 


The excellent part was when the prosectors walked in. These were outstanding anatomy students in their second year; and, as a reward for their efforts, they came in to teach and start the dissection for us. I was amazed at this possible opportunity to perform whole-body dissections for a second time. I told myself, 'this is it, I am going to become a prosector.' So I applied myself; it was not difficult because I loved it. Anatomy came alive for me, and learning what was under the skin was fascinating. I was a prosector by the end of the year.  


I started smiling to myself all the time, skipping (almost) to classes; I was elated.

The feeling did not last long because someone in my batch had 'stolen' the brain. We had started studying brain and head and neck in the last term, and one of the students thought it would be good to take a brain home and keep it in the fridge (simply unbelievable, but true, I promise!) The anatomy faculty came down hard on the entire cohort. They said that unless the perpetrator returned the brain, they would cancel 'prosectorship' for the whole of the batch.

My story finishes sadly, for me at least, because 'X' never returned the brain. I never did become a prosector and never got to dissect a whole human body again. The disappointment was tremendous, and it was such a struggle for me to come to terms with it, something totally beyond my control.


I am now a Sydney Breast Surgeon, and teach for so many reasons; one of them is I have learned much from 'giants.' But at the same time, I've missed out on so much. Both make me passionate about passing on my knowledge and experience in any way possible, so everyone can continue to learn despite this pandemic. I have never forgotten my deep love for anatomy, which led me to become a surgical oncologist, the two diciplines are inseparable. 


Addendum: The person who 'took' the brain is now a Senior Consultant Ophthalmologist, perhaps having the brain in his fridge helped after all!!


I profess to learn and to teach anatomy not from books but from dissections, not from the tenets of Philosophers but from the fabric of Nature. 

— William Harvey   De Motu Cordis (1628), The Circulation of the Blood and Other Writings

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