NLM Visible Human Project - Section through the head of a human male

The Visible Human Project is an effort to create a detailed

data set A data set (or dataset) is a collection of data. In the case of tabular data, a data set corresponds to one or more table (database), database tables, where every column (database), column of a table represents a particular Variable (computer sci ...

of cross-sectional photographs of the human body, in order to facilitate

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

visualization applications. It is used as a tool for the progression of medical findings, in which these findings link anatomy to its audiences. A male and a female

cadaver A cadaver, often known as a corpse, is a Death, dead human body. Cadavers are used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue (biology), tissue to ...

were cut into thin slices, which were then photographed and digitized. The project is run by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) under the direction of Michael J. Ackerman. Planning began in 1986; the data set of the male was completed in November 1994 and that of the female in November 1995. The project can be viewed today at the NLM in Bethesda, Maryland. There are currently efforts to repeat this project with higher resolution images but only with parts of the body instead of a cadaver.

Data

NLM Visible Human Project - section through the abdomen of a human male

The male cadaver was encased and frozen in a gelatin and water mixture in order to stabilize the specimen for cutting. The specimen was then "cut" in the axial plane at 1-millimeter intervals. Each of the resulting 1,871 "slices" was photographed in both film and digital, yielding 15

gigabyte The gigabyte () is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The SI prefix, prefix ''giga-, giga'' means 109 in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one gigabyte is one billion bytes. The unit symbol for the gigabyte i ...

s of data. In 2000, the photos were rescanned at a higher resolution, yielding more than 65 gigabytes. The female cadaver was cut into slices at 0.33-millimeter intervals, resulting in some 40 gigabytes of data. The term "cut" is a bit of a

misnomer A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the nam ...

, yet it is used to describe the process of grinding away the top surface of a specimen at regular intervals. The term "slice", also a misnomer, refers to the revealed surface of the specimen to be photographed; the process of grinding the surface away is entirely destructive to the specimen and leaves no usable or preservable "slice" of the cadaver. The data are supplemented by axial sections of the whole body obtained by

computed tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

, axial sections of the head and neck obtained by

magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and ...

(MRI), and

coronal section The dorsal plane (also known as the coronal plane or frontal plane, especially in human anatomy) is an anatomical plane that divides the body into dorsal and ventral sections. It is perpendicular to the sagittal and transverse planes. Human an ...

s of the rest of the body also obtained by MRI. The scanning, slicing, and photographing took place at the

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is the academic health sciences campus in Aurora, Colorado that houses the University of Colorado's six health sciences-related schools and colleges, including the University of Colorado Schoo ...

, where additional cutting of anatomical specimens continues to take place.

Donors

The male cadaver is from Joseph Paul Jernigan, a 39-year-old Texas murderer who was executed by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

on August 5, 1993. At the prompting of a prison chaplain he had agreed to donate his body for scientific research or medical use, without knowing about the Visible Human Project. Some people have voiced ethical concerns over this. One of the most notable statements came from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, which demanded that the images be withdrawn with reference to the point that the medical profession should have no association with executions, and that the donor's informed consent could be scrutinized. The 59-year-old female donor remains anonymous. In the press she has been described as a Maryland housewife who died from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and whose husband requested that she be part of the project. In 2000, Susan Potter—a cancer patient and a disability rights activist—became the third body donor to the project, spending the 15 following years until her death by

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

in 2015 as an outspoken advocate for medical education and a mentor of medical students at the University of Colorado. For nearly two decades,

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

documented the story of Susan Potter and Dr. Victor M. Spitzer, the director of the Center for Human Simulation at the

who led the NIH-funded project, releasing a video documentary in 2018. By the time Potter met Spitzer in 2000, she had gone through 26 surgeries and had been diagnosed with

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

and

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

: her participation in the Visible Human Project marked a significant departure from the original goals of the project, which up until then had only focused on the dissection and imaging of healthy bodies.

Problems with the data sets

Freezing caused the

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

of the man to be slightly swollen, and his middle ear

ossicles The ossicles (also called auditory ossicles) are three irregular bones in the middle ear of humans and other mammals, and are among the smallest bones in the human body. Although the term "ossicle" literally means "tiny bone" (from Latin ''ossi ...

were lost during preparation of the slices.

Nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons). Nerves have historically been considered the basic units of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the Electrochemistry, electrochemical nerv ...

s are hard to make out since they have almost the same color as

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

, but many have nevertheless been identified. Small

blood vessel Blood vessels are the tubular structures of a circulatory system that transport blood throughout many Animal, animals’ bodies. Blood vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to most of the Tissue (biology), tissues of a Body (bi ...

s were collapsed by the freezing process.

Tendons A tendon or sinew is a tough band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tension. Tendons, like ligaments, are made of ...

are difficult to cut cleanly, and they occasionally smear across the slice surfaces. The male has only one

testicle A testicle or testis ( testes) is the gonad in all male bilaterians, including humans, and is Homology (biology), homologous to the ovary in females. Its primary functions are the production of sperm and the secretion of Androgen, androgens, p ...

, is missing his

appendix Appendix (: appendices or appendixes) may refer to: __NOTOC__ In documents * Addendum, an addition made to a document by its author after its initial printing or publication * Bibliography, a systematic list of books and other works * Index (publis ...

, and has tissue deterioration at the site of lethal injection. Also visible are tissue damage to the dorsum of each forearm by

formalin Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is an organic compound with the chemical formula and structure , more precisely . The compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde. It is stored as ...

injection and damage to the right sartorius from opening the right

femoral vein In the human body, the femoral vein is the vein that accompanies the femoral artery in the femoral sheath. It is a deep vein that begins at the adductor hiatus (an opening in the adductor magnus muscle) as the continuation of the popliteal v ...

for drainage. The male was also not "cut" while in

standard anatomical position The standard anatomical position, or standard anatomical model, is the scientifically agreed upon reference position for anatomical location terms. Standard anatomical positions are used to standardise the position of appendages of animals with ...

, so the cuts through his arms are oblique. The female was missing 14 body parts, including nose cartilage. The reproductive organs of the woman are not representative of those of a young woman. The specimen contains several pathologies, including

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...

and

diverticulitis Diverticulitis, also called colonic diverticulitis, is a gastrointestinal disease characterized by inflammation of abnormal pouches—Diverticulum, diverticula—that can develop in the wall of the large intestine. Symptoms typically include lo ...

Discoveries

By studying the data set, researchers at Columbia University found several errors in anatomy textbooks related to males, regarding the shape of a

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

in the pelvic region and the location of the

urinary bladder The bladder () is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys. In placental mammals, urine enters the bladder via the ureters and exits via the urethra during urination. In humans, the ...

and

prostate The prostate is an male accessory gland, accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found in all male mammals. It differs between species anatomically, chemica ...

License

The data may be bought on tape or downloaded free of charge; Currently no license agreement is required to access or download the dataset, however general terms and conditions apply requiring acknowledgement of the National Library of Medicine with any use. Prior to 2019, one had to specify the intended use and sign a license agreement that allows NLM to use and modify the resulting application. NLM can cancel the agreement at any time, at which point the user has to erase the data files.

Applications using the data

Various projects to make the raw data more useful for educational purposes are under way. It is necessary to build a three-dimensional virtual model of the body where the organs are labeled, may be removed selectively and viewed from all sides, and ideally are even animated. Two commercial software products accomplish the majority of these goals, the VH Dissector from Touch of Life Technologies and from Voxel-Man th
VOXEL-MAN 3D Navigator Inner Organs
- now freel
downloadable
NLM itself has started an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

project, the Insight Toolkit, whose aim is to automatically deduce organ boundaries from the data. The data were used for Alexander Tsiaras's book and CD-ROM ''Body Voyage'', which features a three-dimensional tour through the body. A "Virtual Radiography" application creates Digitally Reconstructed Radiographs and "virtual surgery", where endoscopic procedures or

balloon angioplasty Angioplasty, also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atherosclerosis. A d ...

are simulated: the surgeon can view the progress of the instrument on a screen and receives realistic tactile feedback according to what kind of tissue the instrument would currently be touching. Several other educational applications utilized form the visible human project include: multiple interactive anatomy computer software programs ( Primal Pictures/Anatomy.tv, Anatomage), multimodality image restoration for hospital patients, body system relationships, and volumetric data. The male data set was used in "Project 12:31", a series of photographic light paintings by Croix Gagnon and Frank Schott, and is the male Caucasian cadaver on the Anatomage Table 6.0 application.

References

External links

Home page of the project
including links to the various other projects that use the data
The Visible Human Male: A Technical Report
Detailed history of methods used to prepare the male cadaver and gather image data as published in the free article in the ''Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association'' 1996
Visible Human Server
by the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). Extensive Java applets to view, extract and animate slices. Also applets for 3D feature extraction.
Touch of Life Technologies
A commercial website which produces the VH Dissector, a virtual dissection program that uses the Visible Huma

* ttp://vhp.med.umich.edu/ University of Michigan Visible Human Project page {{authority control Human anatomy Anatomical simulation Anatomy websites