Best Post of June 2017: Remarkable en bloc dissection of human central and peripheral nervous system accomplished at University of Colorado

The next in our "Best of the Month" Series is from June 7, 2017:

Shannon Curran, MS with her dissection

Shannon Curran, a graduate student in the Modern Human Anatomy Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, recently completed an en bloc dissection of the central nervous system along with an extensive portion of the peripheral nervous system from a human cadaver donor.  "It's pretty amazing," said Assistant Professor Maureen Stabio "There are only a handful of these prosections in the world ... We are so lucky to have such talented and ambitious students on our campus."

Curran, who is known among students and faculty as a preternaturally efficient prosector, completed the dissection in under 100 hours. Further detailed work is planned on the specimen, including dissection of the extraocular muscles away from the eyeballs while maintaining their connection to the brain. Discussion is underway about loaning the specimen to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for community health education.

CNS en bloc dissection with extensive portion of PNS

Connection to the eyeballs is maintained, with plans to dissect away extraocular muscles

Detail showing maintained connection with digital nerves of the left hand

Choroidal hemangioma in a patient with Stuge-Weber Syndrome

Sclera is at bottom of picture; retinal pigment epithelium is at top right. Between them is choroid with cavernous hemangioma

Guest Post from Sandro Santagata, MD, PhD: Papillary Craniopharyngioma Trial

I am pleased to present a guest post from Dr. Sandro Santagata of Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Center, who writes:

Our group of collaborators has recently opened a Phase II Trial of BRAF/MEK Inhibitors in Papillary Craniopharyngiomas that is sponsored by the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

The eligibility criteria are listed here: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03224767

The trial is based on work published in these two papers:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24413733

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26498373

I am happy to answer any questions that our colleagues may have about this trial.  ssantagata@bics.bwh.harvard.edu