LONDON A change in the law is to transform the way surgeons are trained, allowing them to practise on bodies left to medical science. Under the Anatomy Act, cadavers could be used for tuition in anatomy but not in technique.

The move has enabled the Royal College of Surgeons to set up a centre in its London headquarters where surgeons will be able to operate on cadavers. The Wolfson Surgical Skills Centre, the first phase of which opens today, will have video cameras providing images to trainees in other centres. Vishy Mahadevan, Professor of Surgical Anatomy, said that the Human Tissue Act was hugely beneficial. “Under the Act, dissections and surgical techniques may also be photographed, which wasn’t possible before”, he said. Bernard Ribeiro, president of the college, said that the centre would “train the whole surgical team, not just the surgeon”. Yesterday at the centre Ronan Treacy, from the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, demonstrated a hip resurfacing technique on a body given to medical science under the Act.

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