Epidural Anesthesia: New Computer Technology Used to Enhance the Teaching of a Common Anesthetic Procedure

The epidural anesthetic procedure is one of the most commonly used techniques in anesthesia. Its usefulness during labor, general surgery and for post-operative pain control is well documented. The underlying anatomy and technical skills for administering an epidural anesthetic have traditionally been taught using lectures, books, models and human materials. There are also Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) CD-ROMS being developed to teach regional anesthesia. Because of rapidly advancing technology, it has recently become possible to use computers to re-create actual human anatomy by extracting data from frozen serial sections, CT and MRI scans. One way this was done was by digitizing this data from a human male and female. The National Library of Medicine originally conceived the Visible Human (VH) Project in 1986. Its initial goal was to acquire CT, MRI, and cryosections from a representative male and female specimen, in approximately one-millimeter intervals. A complete male and female were scanned and digitized but have only been available since 1995. This data set is now available for review and manipulation to licensed individuals and institutions. High-end computers can now take this digital data and re-create the anatomical structures in a three-dimensional format. This new information can be used to generate 3-D computer models of specific regions of the body. We have developed teaching photographs and three-dimensional images to enhance the learning of epidural and spinal anesthetic anatomy and procedures. This includes a description of commonly used equipment such as needles and catheters. Also, sections of the Visible Human lumbosacral region and spinal canal were downloaded and displayed in cross-section, sagittal and parasagittal planes. Structures such as the vertebrae, ligaments, spinal cord and meninges were then labeled in order to train anesthetists in the basic anatomic landmarks.