When it comes to anatomy apps on the iPhone, users are spoilt for choice. There is a huge range available ranging from flashcards to reference textbooks and more.

In a fantastic development, Visible Body has been released on the iPhone. When we reviewed Visible Body for the iPad, we were greatly impressed by its combination of anatomical detail, clinical correlations and novel approach to anatomy noting ” Visible Body is a dazzling demonstration of human anatomy”.

With the release of Visible Body for iPhone, it will be interesting to see if it is possible to maintain the high standards previously set.

Launching Visible Body takes a few moments and presents the user with a contents screen. Here it is possible to select the particular system and then a particular viewpoint e.g. Muscular System and then Upper Arm.

There is an excellent range of systems covered as shown in the screenshots.

There are 270 different views in total spread over 11 systems. It is also possible to change the gender of the 3D model while selecting a particular view. This impressive range of views makes up for the fact that there is no viewpoint of the complete 3D model. This omission does not impact upon what is a complete range of anatomical viewpoints.

Selecting a view and navigating through the menus is intuitive and simple, leading to the real strength of the application-the 3D model. Visible Body for iPhone makes excellent use of multitouch gestures to manipulate the model including pinch to zoom, rotate and pan. The controls are intuitive and it is very easy to learn how to quickly manipulate the model into a desired position.

Tapping on a structure highlights the structure and names it in a box at the top of the screen. There is a small plus symbol next to the name which can be used to show which system and the location of the selected structure. There are also options to show, hide or fade the structure which enables the user to understand the complex interplay between various anatomical structures.

At the bottom of the screen is a number of other options including Views, Definition, Actions, Help and Search. The Views button returns the user to the original selection of anatomical views whilst the Definition tab provides useful information related to the selected structure. The Actions tab offers a range of other view options such as the ability to refresh the model, change gender etc. Finally, the Help and Search tabs are self-explanatory.

The search function is particularly effective; typing a keyword into the search form brings up a list of structures. If the structure isn’t in the current model, one can add it. If it is in the model, one can select it or center the view on the structure. However, the search function does suffer from one or two drawbacks.

First, there can be a noticeable delay while searching and second, the search result will only be displayed with the current model. For example if you are looking at a nervous system view and add an artery it can be challenging to understand the anatomy. (See below for a screenshot of the left coronary artery added to a view of the nerves of the head and neck.)

Price:

• $9.99

Likes:

• Gorgeous, detailed 3D anatomical model
• Clever use of multitouch gestures to adjust 3D model
• Accompanying text contains a high level of detail

Dislikes:

• Memory intensive so therefore subject to occasional slowdowns and unresponsive (as such this is only recommended for users of iPhone 4/4S)
• Search function displays search results in current model which is not always appropriate

Overall Rating:

• Visible Body for iPhone is just as impressive as the iPad version
• The level of anatomical detail is very high and nothing major has been lost in the transition to the smaller device
• At $9.99, Visible Body is a steal when compared to other decent anatomy apps available for the iPhone
• Visible Body has many uses from patient education, to medical students and medical educators. Hands down one of, if not the best, anatomy app available for the iPhone.

iTunes link

One of the major successes of the iPad as a tool for healthcare professionals has been the vast range of anatomy apps that have been developed for the platform. Anatomy is inherently an incredibly visual complex modality which has been taken to a new level with mobile devices such as the iPad.

Here at iMedicalApps, we have decided to take a look at the anatomy apps currently available for the iPad to try and select a range that we consider the most useful for healthcare professionals. We have decided to focus on the iPad as we feel the large screen on this device is best suited to the task.

Unfortunately, the development of anatomy apps for Android tablets is lagging behind Apple’s iOS and therefore not suitable for this current discussion. Furthermore, the majority of healthcare professionals who own a tablet, own an iPad.

The first app we are going to look at in this series is an atypical anatomy app. Instant Anatomy Lectures: Topics In Focus. Robert Whitaker is an eminent anatomist who has written a whole range of lectures covering all aspects of anatomy and runs a website dedicated to aiding learning in human anatomy.

Here we take a look at one of his apps in which he presents a number of topics in audiovisual lecture format.

The app itself is sort of utilitarian but functional. Opening the app reveals three options – An Introduction, Lectures, and a link to the Instant Anatomy Website. The introduction contains some background information on Robert Whitaker and links to his other anatomy apps.

The ‘Lectures’ tab contains 38 audiovisual lectures which cover a range of topics focusing on important anatomical regions such as the brachial plexus or the skull foramina and their contents.

Rather than list them all here, see the screenshot below (from iTunes) which lists them all. The main areas covered here tend to be the finer points of anatomy rather than the gross musculoskeletal that is usually presented.

Selecting a lecture starts a slideshow which is narrated by Robert Whitaker in which he introduces a topic and discusses it while the slides update themselves. At this point, it is important to note that the drawings used in this app (and the rest of instantanatomy.net) are hand-drawn and at first glance appear relatively basic.

However, I have found that this style is appropriate for learning anatomy as it is easy to understand and pick out the important anatomical concepts. The liberal use of colour in the simplistic diagrams ensures that it is straightforward to comprehend the anatomy.

While the quality of the diagrams would not be appropriate for those practicing surgical training, the combination of audio and visual input mean learning/understanding anatomy is straightforward. Each lecture is covered in approximately ten minutes which is useful if you have a couple of minutes spare and want to quickly refresh your memory.

One annoying feature is that each lecture is broken down into a number of major slides and the user has to manually advance to the next slide using a ‘next’ button every time the narrator says so.

In order to gain a complete understanding of the anatomy of the human body, the user would need to purchase the other apps offered by Robert Whitaker, although, these are all still reasonably priced.

Price:

• $9.99 for the universal app ($5.99 until 12/21)

Likes:

• Audiovisual lectures present a different approach to learning anatomy
• Simple colorful diagrams aid learning and understanding

Dislikes:

• Manually advancing each slide to the ‘next’ one

Overall Rating:

• This is a great app for students learning anatomy for the first time and healthcare professionals looking for a quick refresher
• The combination of audio and visual stimulus will appeal to those who may have different learning styles whilst the low price will appeal to everyone

iTunes link:

Histology, or microscopic anatomy, is a cornerstone of a basic medical curriculum, in some ways symbolic of the scientific foundation of medicine itself. As any medical student can attest to though, its not the easiest topic to master. Distinguishing the different stages of granulocyte maturation has likely generated more than its fair share of nightmares among medical students.

Here we review the Basic Histology flashcards app from Lange, developed with the assistance of Dr. Anthony Mescher to help medical students conquer this difficult part of their medical training.

The app’s home screen represents a simple and focused premise. The user can view cards in a random order or classified by organ system.

The cards themselves open by showing an image with labeled parts for the user to identify. Once you tap the screen, the card flips over to reveal the answer to the organ and the labeled parts. There is also a review of pertinent key points and a clinical pearl.

There are three “levels” for the app’s use: an unknown box, a known box, and a mastered box. The goal of the app is to have the user move all the cards systematically to the mastered box, where they can just review the cards briefly as needed. This occurs through repetitive studying of the material presented.

The app allows the user to customize the categories by grouping and separating, helping to increase the utility and potentially the retention rates of users.

Also included in the app is the ability to zoom and expand images, which is especially helpful for the smaller screen of the iPhone.

The app uses Junqueira’s Basic Histology 12th edition textbook as the main reference and resource. Medical students in their first two years will find the most benefit from this app, with potential gain continuing for those who are interested in or pursuing careers in pathology.

Compared to the actual flashcards, the content in the app appears to be similar. The actual flashcards similarly contain 200 flashcards, and is comparatively priced.

There is one notable difference in the iPad version. The images, unfortunately, are not optimized for that device.

Platform: iPhone and iPad

Price:

• $39.99 from the App store

Likes:

• Focused topic
• Quick hit review and clinical pearls expand usefulness

Dislikes:

• Some topics are poorly covered
• Images not optimized for iPad

Conclusion:

• An app that provides a decent electronic alternative to carrying around the bulk of flashcards, would work for students who generally learn well from flashcards

Find the app here on

by: Joshua James Harding BSc Hons (MS2)

Historically, anatomy has always been a cornerstone in medical education. Until recently, dissection and didactic lectures have predominated.

The publication of the General Medical Council’s guidelines for UK medical schools, set out in the document Tomorrow’s Doctor’s, recommends that undue emphasis on detail is not required and calls for a reduction in the burden of factual information in the medical curriculum.

Since then, many medical schools in the UK have changed their course structures and one noticeable change has been a decline in the use of cadaveric dissection. Whether this is due to legislation issues brought about with the introduction of the Human Tissue Act or by the shortage in donated cadavers, this trend certainly raises a number of important questions around how best to train the future physician.

Cadaveric dissection is widely valued by professional anatomists as the most suitable method to fulfill learning objectives when teaching anatomy, whether they are of a traditional or more modern viewpoint. The best method to teach anatomy continues to be widely discussed, but the importance and significance of cadaveric dissection remains overwhelmingly valuable.

Anatomy underpins all of clinical practice – physicians call on anatomical knowledge to perform examinations, formulate differential diagnoses, undertake investigations and communicate findings to patients and colleagues.

As Friedrich Tiedemann once said,

“Doctors without anatomy are like moles. They work in the dark and the work of their hands are mounds.”

In some reports, the knowledge base of junior physicians in applied clinical anatomy has been reported as being below what many would consider to be safe. This coupled with an increase in litigation claims due to “anatomical ignorance,” should raise concerns.

So how can we teach anatomy? There are a number of available modilities including dissection, prosection, computer-assisted learning, radiologic imaging, procedural/clincal anatomy, and didactic lectures. Most medical schools opt for a multi-modal approach to teaching anatomy, but many neglect the necessity of clinical anatomy.

Technology has advanced significantly and its impact in medicine and anatomy are widely known. Many consultant radiologists have been forced to relearn their anatomy, as more advanced tools that detect anatomy were simply was not viewable when they were trained.

I believe that advancement in technology has the potential to unite traditional and modern approaches to teaching and learning anatomy. We have seen a boom in anatomy learning tools in the last decade, ranging from tablet apps to online resources such as Anatomy.Tv from Primal. This growth is not expected to slow. So if dissection is in decline, despite the support of its use by both medical students and expert anatomists, what teaching modality will medical schools of the future be delivering?

Virtual autopsy, admittedly in its infancy, has the potential to modernize and unify anatomical teaching, as well as its other applications in forensics and pathology. By combining data sets from CT and MRI scans of the body, it is possible to produce a full volumetric description of a human body, not just a 3D model.

One such company, Norrköping Visualization Centre, in collaboration with the Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), have developed the Virtual Autopsy Table shown below.

As you can see, the technology is visually stunning and allows multiple users to interact collaboratively and simultaneously to gain a deeper understanding and insight into the anatomy of the human body. With this technology in medical schools, an expert anatomist would be able to teach small groups dissecting on the fly, using virtual blades to dissect the specimen and view them in different anatomical planes. This allows for rapid display of key anatomy that could only be replicated (poorly) by multiple prosections.

Manipulating these data sets in full high-def 3D would allow students to obtain a proper appreciation of the human body, the kind of apperciation that previously could only be gained through dissection but devoid of the associated problems that are responsible for a decline in use of dissection in the UK.

With further development and the increased use of tablets among medical students, this learning experience could then potentially be personalized, as university’s could make the software and learning resources available to their students to use in their own time.

In conclusion, virtual autopsies are at the cutting edge of medical research and education and I for one look forward to seeing this modality of teaching take off in the future.

3D4Medical.com has recently released a number of their celebrated NOVA series apps in the Mac App Store. This is the first time, though, that we have seen a major iOS medical app developer port a successful iOS app onto the Mac platform.

We have talked before about the issues facing the Mac App store and its implications on physicians  and it is exciting and interesting to see the use of this new platform by an established developer.

The content of the app is identical to the iPad version reviewed here and contains useful anatomical information such as origin, insertion, innervation etc. This app also contains the same interactive features such as 360 degree rotation, pins and layers and quiz functionality.

Interestingly, the developers note:

“It is a completely new app, every detail has been re-designed from the photo-realistic 3D model to the quick navigation”

There are obviously a number of implications for physicians, medical educators and students everywhere who now have an additional tool which they can use to help teach/learn anatomy.

The ability to use a larger screen will certainly help develop understanding which in turn will make anatomy more productive and enjoyable. It will be interesting to see how this app copes making the transition from a touch based input to a mouse input.

The apps now available are:

1. Muscle System Pro II
2. Brain Pro
3. Heart Pro
4. Skeletal System Pro

A promotional video can be seen below.

We will keep you abreast of further additions to the Mac App Store.

by: Alexander Chamessian, MS2

For students, so much of the iPad’s utility stems from the ability to read textbooks.

Realizing this, publishers have teamed up with app develops to find the best way to transform paper books into e-books for the iPad.  Arguably, the most promising and advanced app in the arena is Inkling.

You can read more about Inkling in prior features we have done on the company.

I was curious to see how a popular anatomy textbook – Essential Clinical Anatomy (ECA) – would perform as an Inkling e-book. As an anatomy textbook, I think ECA is one of the best, but that’s not what I’ll review below. Rather, I was more interested in how peculiarities of an anatomy book would be represented and enhanced by the Inkling form.

Anatomy is a highly visual field. The images are as important – if not even more so – than the text, so that is the first thing I focused my attention on. As with other Inkling books, all figures are embedded in crisp, clear text. Selecting the figure brings up an isolated view that magnifies the image and provides a caption. Using the pinch maneuver, the image can be expanded with almost no grainy pixels. I was quite impressed with the brilliance and overall quality of the figures.

In fact, I find the images much superior to those in the actual paper text version of ECA. But what I found most useful is the ability to replace the image labels with question marks through the ‘test yourself’ function. For anatomy studying, this feature is a god-send. Most students have to buy a separate flashcard set (often for a hefty sum) in order to get the labels off of images, but not so with Inkling. There is great value here then, because you’re effectively getting two products for the price of one.

One of the most popular components of ECA are the “Clinical Blue Boxes”, which relate anatomy to clinical problems and practice. In the Inkling version, Clinical Blue Boxes are set apart from the text in the same way figures are, so that one can focus on the Blue Box contents by itself. Moreover, there are embedded links to relevant text figures so that one can quickly pull up a needed figure without having to do much digging.

Easy navigation, in fact, characterizes the whole Inkling experience. Several times I wanted to jump to a specific anatomical structure. The robust and rapid search function enabled me to go directly to the content I was interested in. Similarly, the ample use of headers and sub-headers in the navigation panel made it easy to go to specific sections in the book.

My one quibble is that Inkling doesn’t enable one to quickly jump to a subsection within a larger chapter section. Rather, you are taken to the beginning of the chapter section and then must scroll through to the specific spot. It can sometimes be annoying.

Inkling offers some markup abilities that I found very useful. Selecting text gives the user the option to add a note, highlight, search, copy or define. All of these features are very handy. Bookmarking is also easy and functional.

One novel feature that I think has much promise is the public commenting/annotating capability. At any section throughout the book, one can post a public note that any other Inkling user can see. I really like the idea of being able to see what other people are thinking when reading the same info as me.

But as it stands, the public annotation function is not very useful because there just aren’t very many users or notes yet. As Inkling becomes more widely adopted, I think learning anatomy and many other subjects will be made more enjoyable and productive by this function.

Beyond the transformation of ECA into an Inkling book is some new content as well. Each chapter comes with high-yield quizzes that test one’s understanding of the anatomy information. The questions as well as the quiz interface, I thought, were very well done. There are also a number of case studies that accompany each chapter; these go more in depth and ask several probing questions related to each case. Overall, I thought the quizzes and case studies provided much added value.

Taken together, I think Essential Clinical Anatomy on Inkling is an incredible resource. The rich text and media, robust navigation and annotation capabilities, and the added content made my reading of ECA on Inkling even more enjoyable and beneficial than reading the paper text. I wish I had had this a year ago when I was learning anatomy.

Price:

• $64.99 ($9.99/chapter)

Likes:

• Rich text and images
• “Test yourself” feature that removes labels from images
• Robust navigation and annotation capabilities
• Public comments/annotation function
• Additional interactive quizzes and case studies
• Ability to buy single chapters rather than the whole book

Dislikes:

• Price. You get what you pay for with this app, but that doesn’t change the fact that $64.99 is still quite a bit of money to students on a budget.
• Public comment/annotation function is not useful at present time due to low number of uses
• Inability to navigate to specific subsections within book chapters

Anatomy applications come in all different shapes and sizes. From flashcard based anatomy atlases to clinically orientated video lectures.

Muscle & Bone Anatomy 3D developed by Real Bodywork strikes a happy medium combining a range of useful features into a cheap anatomy application.

The core 3D model has a unique system for exposing the different layers of muscle within the human body. Rotating the model in one direction will slowly remove superficial layers exposing deeper muscles until the skeleton is reached.

Each time the model is viewed from the front or back, a large number of labels appear highlighting each muscle within that particular layer. If one of these labels is touched, then further information regarding that muscle/bone is presented on the side.

This information includes standard anatomical information such as Action, Innervation, Origin and Insertion.

There is also a larger image of the particular muscle and an audio feature which will pronounce the name of the muscle. The search function can be used to quickly search all the muscles contained within the app.

Another fantastic feature is the ‘Actions’ tab. Clicking this leads to a section detailing the anatomical movements of the body. Clicking on a particular articular joint leads to a sub-table of options such as flexion/extension.

Once a movement has been selected, there is a short video of the 3D model demonstrating the movement whilst on the right hand side it is possible to scroll up and down to see all the muscles which are involved in the movement. Furthermore, clicking on one of these muscles brings up the anatomical information related to that particular muscle (See screenshot).

The addition of labeled interactive 3D models help with learning the complex areas of anatomy such as the foot, hand or pelvis. The use of the rotating model to add or remove layers is again implemented here and it should be noted that the quality of the 3D models is good.

The quiz function tests the user on their anatomical understanding and comes complete with the ability to track high scores and email results to track previous performances. The actual quiz uses a variation of the drag and drop style interface where users drag the correct answer to the correct label and a more standard multiple choice option. The wide range of quizzes available are excellent for testing and consolidating understanding.

There is also a series of narrated short videos covering basic anatomical knowledge of each area. These are short (approx. 5-8 mins) and help gain a general overview of that particular region.

Price:

• $6.99

Likes:

• Impressive diagrams containing essential gross musculoskeletal anatomy information
• Range of embedded media such as audio pronunciations, movement videos
• Interactive quiz function to consolidate learning

Dislikes/Future updates I’d like to see:

• Lack of detailed clinical correlations with respect to musculoskeletal injuries

Overall Rating:

• This app is an ideal introduction to gross anatomy for medical students at the beginning of their course
• The basic level of detail is appropriate for first years and learning is complemented with media such as audio pronunciations and videos
• The cheap price and impressive, attractive user interface mean that students looking for an introduction to musculoskeletal anatomy need look no further

iTunes link: Muscle & Bone Anatomy 3D

Skyscape is one of the most popular medical resource providers in the App Store. They offer a vast range of over 600 medical resources for healthcare professionals of all grades and modalities.

Skyscape offers a ‘freemium’ model, where the app itself and some content is available for free. However, more desirable premium content comes at a price. One of the most popular premium resources is Netters Atlas of Human Anatomy.

Netters is one of the most popular and best selling anatomy resources alongside other heavyweights such as Grays Anatomy, Agur, Moore’s clinical anatomy, and Thieme’s Anatomy to name just a few. Netters Atlas of Human Anatomy for iPad is based on the 5th edition and contains over 530 colour illustrations.

The user interface of Skyscape resources has always been driven by utility and functionality. Netters Atlas of Human Anatomy is no different with a text interface. There are 4 main features:

• A ‘Table of Contents’ mode
• A searchable index
• A history function (with bookmarks)
• Skyscape’s Smartlink technology designed to bring multiple Skyscape resources together.

The search and history function are effective and it was straightforward to find various anatomical areas of interest. It should be noted that the history function will also include articles viewed in other Skyscape resources (see screenshot).

The quality of any anatomy app is strongly based on the quality of its anatomical illustrations. Netter’s hand drawn diagrams are renowned and transfer to the iPads 9 inch screen with excellent results.

Some iTunes reviews suggest that the quality and resolution of the diagrams is of a low standard. I found that this was only apparent when zooming in using standard touch gestures.

This was sometimes an issue when zooming in on highly detailed areas (see screenshots for example of before zoom, medium zoom and full zoom).

Despite these image resolution issues, the actual range of anatomy covered in this app is excellent. There are numerous images of each anatomical region and area which helps consolidate anatomical understanding of complex structures.

Each image has tens of labels ensuring that every structure is annotated. As such, many healthcare professionals will find it useful as a reference resource.

Each diagram is labeled with a number of blue dots which can be touched to show the answer. There is some inconsistency here as clicking some labels brings up a blue notification box while clicking others open a new page. The blue notification box system is fine as it allows you to continue observing the original image.

Opening a new page is not an effective system. You lose sight of the image and therefore can get confused about exactly which structure is being noted. It would have been nice to have the particular structure highlighted once it had been selected. In the screenshots below, one label was clicked in the image on the left and the label displayed was the image on the right.

Skyscape has taken a leaf out of Inklings business model and allow user’s to purchase individual sections at a reduced price rather than the whole book. Skyscape also offers an interesting ‘Rent a book’ offer where you can get access to the whole textbook for 12 months for a marginally reduced price ($71.95 vs. $76.95). The main difference is that renting a book includes access to any new editions that may be released within that year.

Price:

• $79.99

Likes:

• Complete collection of anatomical illustrations covering the whole human body
• Numerous images cover anatomical areas from a number of views helping to understand the complex interplay between various anatomical structures.

Dislikes:

• Opening a new page when selecting a label
• Resolution of images when magnified can be poor making the anatomy unclear

Overall Rating:

• Whilst Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy is expensive, it is a complete anatomy text with decent anatomical illustrations.
• The labeling system needs updating before it can be fully recommended as the app is difficult to use when a new page opens once a label has been selected.
• Similarly there are potentially a number of issues relating to the low resolution of images during magnification.
• Overall Skyscape’s version of Netter’s Atlas of Anatomy is a good anatomy atlas, although it is not a stand out contender.

iTunes link:
Android Review of Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy

Note: iPhone users can find our review of the Netter’s Musculoskeletal Flash Card app here.

There are many different learning styles when it comes to anatomy on the iPad. Some read books while others watch audiovisual lectures and yet another group of learners prefers to use flash cards.

Borm Bruckmeier Publishing is probably the leading medical flash card app developer having been featured on iMedicalApps a number of times. Anatomy i-Pocket is targeted at a range of healthcare professionals and designed as an aide memoir.

The table of contents covers the major regions of gross anatomy (see screenshot) which can be expanded for a range of more detailed choices.

The range of anatomy covered is good and while this will not replace an anatomy atlas or a surgical manual, it is useful for a physician to quickly check and recap key anatomical landmarks.

There is minimal clinical correlations included with the anatomy.

It is easy to transfer between different subsections using the arrows at the top of each page although this could be improved with the addition of swipe gestures. The search function is particularly helpful when trying to find a particular region/anatomical location.

The success of any visual anatomy application is inherently linked to the quality of its diagrams and Anatomy i-Pocket does not disappoint. There are 258 annotated hand drawings covering the wide range of gross anatomy.

The anatomical drawings themselves are very good and the use of arrows clearly indicate the relevant anatomical structures. Some users may find the lack of colour impacts their understanding and this would certainly be an improvement.

In addition, the user interface could be improved with pinch-to-zoom in order to examine the finer detail of the drawings. Despite this, it was still possible to see and understand key anatomical concepts.

This application is certainly best used as a gross anatomy refresher rather than the first port of call when looking to study anatomy. The lack of quiz function or ability to hide the labels mean that Anatomy i-Pocket may not be the first choice for students looking for an anatomy learning resource.

Price:

• $9.99 for universal app

Likes:

• Drawings are clear and detailed
• Good range of anatomy covered
• Universal App

Dislikes/Future updates:

• Would be helpful for some images to have colour to highlight key anatomical points
• Inability to swipe between pages using touch gestures

Overall Rating:

• Anatomy i-Pocket fulfills its role as a flash card based anatomy refresher app
• The clear diagrams and simple user interface allow relevant anatomy to be accessed rapidly whilst the level is suitable from medical student to practicing physician (not surgical)
• The reasonable price of $9.99 will appeal to many who want a basic anatomy application for the iPad.

iTunes link:

by: Brittany Chan, MBA, MS3

Mastering human anatomy is one of the most difficult challenges in medical school and throughout a physician’s career. From Modality Inc. comes the Thieme Atlas of Anatomy app to help medical students learn and physicians review human anatomy.

This app is based on the paperback atlas of the same name. It is not a standalone app; it must be purchased within the ModalityBODY app for $74.99.

The ModalityBODY app is a free app that contains other anatomy and imaging apps available for purchase, compatible with iPad only.

Upon entering the app, the user is greeted by a menu of different anatomical areas to explore, including back, thorax, abdomen and pelvis, upper limb, lower limb, head and neck, and neuroanatomy. From there, the user can select either Images or Pages in the upper right hand corner. Selecting Pages will allow you to peruse the app as if you were reading the book, while Images allow you to study one image at a time and test your knowledge.

For the purposes of this app review, I will focus on the abdomen and pelvis section. I studied this area first in Page mode. After selecting Abdomen & Pelvis from the welcome screen, you will see several thumbnails of pages you may choose from. You may scroll through the pages to jump to a specific structure. The table of contents also lists all of your options.

The pages are typical of any anatomy atlas, including labeled structures, tables, and information about clinical correlations. Occasional radiographs are also shown.

From the bottom of any page, you may scroll to the next or previous page using the arrow buttons, or jump to another page using the thumbnails. The thumbnail images are difficult to see; they will enlarge when you tap and hold them, but I found it difficult and often frustrating to select exactly the page I wanted. You may also select the index to search for a particular structure.

After studying the Pages, you may quiz yourself over each image in Image mode. By default, structures are tagged with pins. Tapping a pin tells you the name of the structure. You may also pin and label your own structures, or view the image without pins. One extremely neat feature is the ability to acquire more information about a structure via Google, Wikipedia, or PubMed right within the app. However, I found this mode to be slightly buggy; parts of other random images would show up behind the image I was trying to view (as seen in the screenshots). This was slightly distracting and annoying, though fairly easy to ignore. Perhaps Modality will fix this with a future update.

While studying an image, you can easily refer to its corresponding page in the atlas by tapping “Page” in the upper right hand corner. Also in the corner is a gold button labeled “Practice,” which will prompt you to find structures on that image at random. Tapping the pins will then give you feedback on whether you selected the correct or incorrect structure.

Though not perfect, this app is a fun and interactive way to learn and review human anatomy.

Likes:

• Decent images
• Interactive
• Ability to study the book pages of the atlas, then quiz yourself with images only
• Features Google, Wikipedia, and PubMed searches within the app

Dislikes:

• Very expensive, especially for a medical student
• A few bugs in Image mode with overlapping images
• User interface needs some improvement
• Not compatible with iPhone and iPod touch
• Must be purchased within the ModalityBODY app

Conclusion:

• The Thieme Atlas of Anatomy app makes good use of the iPad’s large screen size and rich color imaging.
• The app is fun and fairly user friendly, though parts of the user interface could use improvement (such as the thumbnails at the bottom of each page).
• I especially liked the ability to quiz myself using the pins in Image mode and using the Practice mode to quiz myself at random.
• This app is useful for medical students and physicians alike, though I imagine its main appeal would be to medical students.
• However, at the steep price of $74.99, many people, especially students, would likely hesitate to purchase it, particularly with the paperback version available for $54 on Amazon

iTunes Link

A basic understanding of cardiac anatomy is fundamental to approaching almost any cardiopulmonary disorder, from valvular regurgitation or pulmonary hypertension to atrial arrhythmias or myocardial infarction. Given the importance of mastering cardiac anatomy for physicians-in-training, the Cardiac Images App seeks to provide a dynamic mobile cardiac atlas via interactive static images and dynamic films.

Radiologist and computer programmer Dr. Anouk Stein, who released the Cardiac Images app on June 30, 2011, has also created a number of other (mostly medical) apps, including iAnatomy (which we reviewed on the site back in 2009), Mammogram Atlas, Brain Images, iJoints, Flu Tracker, Birthday App, and RadCompanion. The images used in this app come from Dr. Andrew Crean, Assistant Professor of Radiology and Cardiology at Toronto General Hospital, whose research interests include cardiac MRI and cardiac CT angiography, especially as applied to congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The app’s material is intended to be part of the University of Toronto’s oslermed.ca project, which is still under construction under the leadership of Dr. Kieran Murphy.

Read below the jump to learn more about how the Cardiac Images app can help teach general cardiac anatomy.

The Cardiac Images App’s home screen quickly offers links to the app’s material, including cine images (the dynamic films), selected illustrations from Gray’s Anatomy, and sequential images. Quick tabs along the right side of the home screen can take users directly to cine images, Gray’s Anatomy illustrations, or sequential images in all planes.

The dynamic films, arguably the most appealing aspect of the Cardiac Images App, display contrast-enhanced cine films of the beating heart within the thorax. An interesting feature lies in the ability of the user to speed up or slow down the films by adjusting the speed bar along the bottom left corner of the screen. The film can also be paused and also navigated frame-by-frame by using the controls in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Clicking the “Show” button along the top of the screen displays abbreviated labels for much of the cardiac anatomy shown in the particular film, including heart chambers, cardiac valves, and major blood vessels, when visible.

Clicking on a label displays the full text for that particular abbreviated label.

The Cardiac Images app contains 15 different dynamic films, in several different views. However, the films do not allow users to zoom in or pan the films.

The app also includes 7 cardiac illustrations from the vaunted Gray’s Anatomy textbook, for further referencing of cardiac anatomy.

The Gray’s Anatomy illustrations, unlike the films, can be zoomed and panned.

The final section of the app includes sequential images in axial, coronal, and sagittal planes as well as Black Blood HASTE sequences, all organized cephalic-to-caudal, dorsal-to-ventral, or left-to-right.

These sequential images also feature the Hide/Show function described above for the dynamic films, and allow for zooming (via 2-finger zooming gesture or by double-tapping the screen) as well as panning. However, the quality of the images suffers somewhat with zooming.

Pricing:

• The Cardiac Images App costs $0.99 in the App store.

Likes:

• Excellent, efficient user interface with no wasted buttons or clicks
• Well-labeled static images and dynamic films from the University of Toronto
• Ability to speed up or slow down cine films of the beating heart

Dislikes/Future Updates We’d Love to See:

• This app depicts only normal cardiac anatomy, not any pathology
• There is no dedicated quiz mode within the app
• Inability to zoom or pan dynamic films
• Limited clarity of films and images, especially apparent upon zooming

Conclusion:

• The Cardiac Images App succeeds at representing a reasonably-priced and well-designed mobile atlas of general cardiac anatomy, with its depth most appropriate for medical students, but lacks any cardiac pathology for more advanced learners.

By Brian Wells, MSM, MPH

“Aspects of Anatomy: Thorax and Upper Limb” is a new visual study guide for anatomy with the lessons given by Dr. Peter Abrahams, a professor of clinical anatomy at Warwick University and at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada.

Dr. Abrahams has examined and lectured doctors worldwide and has won prior awards for classroom and electronic teaching of anatomy. His extensive experience, as well as a love for anatomy, truly shows through in this application.

Excerpt of App from iTunes:

Cutting edge film tutorials teaching on the “real human body” by one of the most acknowledged international experts in the field of clincial anatomy. Filmed at the West Midlands Surgical Training Centre on plastinated prosections the 38 short films (3-8 minutes each) are hands-on demonstrations by Prof. Peter Abrahams an expert teacher on integrating human anatomy with the world of medicine.

This application is geared towards those learning anatomy for the first time or for those who need a quick brush-up on their basic anatomy but do not have a lot of time to sit and read a textbook. Dr. Abrahams provides excellent study points and does a very good job of highlighting major structures of which clinicians should be aware.

In addition to teaching anatomy, there are brief videos that discuss radiologic anatomy and cross section. These videos include an introduction to radiology, 2D radiology such as one would see in an axial CT, 3D radiology and even real-time 4D radiology of the heart.

Aside from only covering anatomy, this application also provides a few clinical condition/technique videos on breast cancer, carpal tunnel syndrome, Colles’ fracture and coronary angiography. Finally, this app also provides quiz functionality over the various areas covered by the videos, such as the thoracic wall, the lungs, the lung bronchial tree, the thoracic cavity lung, the heart and others.

Strengths:

• This app does an excellent job of reviewing major anatomical structures and integrating quiz-based learning with the lessons.
• All the videos are available offline which makes for easy viewing anywhere.
• While not as detailed as what can be found in full anatomical textbooks, Dr. Abrahams has carefully picked anatomic structures relevant to clinical anatomy.
• The end user will find value in watching the videos and going through the quizzes for reinforcement.

Weaknesses:

• It would be nice for the application to include more videos on radiologic anatomy and clinical conditions. However, given the number of videos, the quality of the video, the narration and quiz feature in the application, it would be hard to count this as a deal-breaking weakness.
• The most glaring weakness of this app:  Its not customized for the iPad’s screen — where its utility would significantly increase.

Overall:

• Overall, this is an excellent application for learning anatomy. While it will not completely replace the Rohen Atlas or Netter’s Anatomy, it makes for a wonderful addition to one’s study materials.
• The videos combined with the quiz feature in the application make learning anatomy easy and help reinforce the lessons covered.
• At only $7.99, I would consider this app a bargain, especially compared to textbooks which I have spent $30 and $40 dollars on.
• Dr. Abrahams’ skill as a teacher of clinical anatomy shows as his lessons are presented in a logical, easy to understand manner.
• I highly recommend this application to students of clinical anatomy.

YouTube video of the application: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCp-9WfmhQA

iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aspects-of-anatomy/id422032949?mt=8

Price: $7.99

Disclaimer: Dr. Peter Abrahams is affiliated with St. George’s University School of Medicine. However, I have never met Dr. Abrahams nor have I ever attended one of his lectures. I have no financial interests in this application.

Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy sits on my shelf of medical textbooks, pages of the brachial plexus and cranial nerves dog-eared for frequent visits, corners of the cover worn down by trips back and forth to school in my backpack.  

Thinking back to my classwork in anatomy, I can imagine how convenient it would have been to have ‘Netter’ available on a portable device.

For medical and health professions students, many of whom are now in the middle of anatomy coursework, the gold standard anatomy atlas is available on Android through Skyscape.

Few of us in the medical profession need an introduction to Netter’s medical artwork.  Containing over 540 images, this app brings the illustrations of Netter to the Android platform for $76.95.  (Note: instead of buying the complete Netter’s Atlas, users may purchase any of the seven chapters, i.e “Abdomen,” for a much-reduced price of $14.95).  Image quality is impressive, though often too small for full appreciation (see below).

Anatomic structures for each image plate are marked with a line for identification, much like the original Netter’s Atlas.  Instead of a structure name, each line ends with black dot.  Clicking the bullet points quickly opens a pop-up window revealing the structure name.  By hiding the structure names the app creates a sort of quiz experience.  The bullet points and pop-ups also eliminate the need for excessively small font within the image.

Each plate, or image, is size-fixed on the screen.  In other words, the user cannot adjust the size of the image to effectively zoom-in or zoom-out.  Most plates are thus larger than the screen (at least they are on my Moto Cliq), and to view the entire image and all bullet-points requires scrolling back and forth, up and down.  In a perfect world, the user would be able to zoom out on the full plate and zoom in on the fine details (also in this perfect world, my Android would have multi-touch for re-sizing).  In the real world, scrolling around to see each corner of every plate is a significant annoyance.

The user finds desired images in one of several ways.  The first – and in my experience, the most efficient – way is to use the table of contents to find the correct image.  For instance, if looking for the vessels supplying the stomach, I would go to the table of contents, then “Abdomen”, “Viscceral Vasculature” and click on the plate for “Arteries of the Stomach, Liver, and Spleen.”  Second, the user may find images directly using the search function.  Last, the user may use the Main Index to search for structures alphabetically.

What I liked:
-The number of images.  This is a complete anatomic atlas.
-The quality of images.  This is Netter, with clarity.
-Multiple methods to find images.
-The “quiz yourself” experience of hidden structure names.

What I disliked:
-On my Moto Cliq images out-size the screen, making for awkward but necessary scrolling.
-No zoom ability.  Most images were appropriately sized for my mobile device, but resizing would be a nice feature.

Conclusions:
Skyscape continues to be one of the first and finest places to look for high quality medical apps on the Android platform.  Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy on Android is a highly functional and useful app for students and health care professionals who desire an alternative to lugging around the physical atlas.   I can imagine numerous settings in which a mobile Netter would be useful in my life as a medical student – the anatomy lab, the operating room prior to surgery, and even last minute study before a test.

Is this nifty app worth the hefty price? At $76.95, this app is a considerable investment.  As a consumer of medical apps, I expect a textbook app in this price range to replace the physical textbook, since owning both would be out of my budget.  By way of comparison, a brand new paperback textbook with online access is selling for $64.90 on Amazon this week.

There is no question about the quality and functionality of this app – I will continue to use this app frequently.  Whether the price tag of the Netter app is too high for you will depend on personal preferences (desire for physical text versus mobility), the size of your Android phone screen, your stage in training, and – most importantly – your budget.

Link: Skyscape – Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy

Note: iPhone users can find our review of the Netter’s Musculoskeletal Flash Card app here.

Our goal here is simple – to help connect physicians, nurses, PA’s, NP’s, EMT’s, and students to the apps that will help make them better at caring for patients. Whether that’s by learning anatomy better, having tools to share with your patients, or an accessible refresher on how to do procedures, there’s a lot out there that could us and you take better care of physicians. So please let us know (in the comments section here) what apps you would like to see reviewed. We’d especially appreciate links to the app’s iTunes page. We want to be responsive to what our readers want, so give us a hand by pointing us to the apps you’d like to know more about. In the meantime, we’ll keep looking for apps that we want to make sure our peers to know about.