Profiles, tissue, and microbial integrity of cadavers used in medical faculties in South-western Uganda: implication in anatomical education

Cadaveric dissection has remained an integral part of anatomical education globally; hence, the profiles ofcadavers, their gross tissue and microbial integrity has great implication in anatomical education. This study determinedthe profiles, gross tissue and microbial integrity of cadavers used in South-western Uganda (SWU) medical schools. Across-sectional study was carried out for three months in anatomy and microbiology laboratories of SWU medical teachinginstitutions. Ethical approval was obtained, cadavers were proportionately selected and examined grossly, and surface swabstaken for microbial analysis. Data collected was entered into Microsoft Excel, cleaned, and exported to Stata version 17for analysis. Majority of cadavers were male (68%), adult (96%), blacks (100%), unknown cause of death (96%), obtained asunclaimed bodies (100%) and with no cadaver record tag (96%). Nearly a half (48%) cadavers had disrupted dentition, 68%had poor muscle integrity and 80% with abnormal fat. About 27% cadavers had poor surface microbial integrity amongwhich 62.5% had a mixture of both bacteria and fungi, 25.0% had only fungi while 12.5% had only bacteria. A high numberof cadavers had micro-organisms on their surfaces with majority having a mixture of bacteria and fungi. Majority of cadavershad poor gross tissue integrity. Better cadaver preservation methods should be adopted. To advocate for the establishment ofcadaver donation policy and programs through which good quality cadavers can be obtained.