Back by request (and, let’s be honest, because I like blog posts that are mostly pictures), here are some more drawings from my human anatomy sketchbook. Some language in this post is NSFW.
This spread has the cavernous sinuses on the left (the reason why picking an infected pimple on your face can kill you if you’re unlucky), and it has then some stuff about the inguinal canal and spine on the right side. These are both terrible structures from an engineering standpoint that are fun to bring up to intelligent design proponents.
This spread has ligaments of the male and female urogenital systems on one side, and on the other side an inferior view of the diaphragm. There’s a little mnemonic phrase to help you remember the structures and what vertebral level they pass through for the diaphragmatic aperatures. Med students have entire databases of these memory devices, and some of them are more obscene than others. “I ate 10 eggs at 12” is pretty tame, let’s just say.
One of my friends wanted to see my “less pretty, more schematic” drawings. These are the arterial and venous systems.
This is the pelvic floor, which is a tricky area to learn and to dissect. This is not just because it makes you understandably squeamish, but also because it’s oddly shaped and packed with structures. The VRMed Lab at our school had a pelvic floor model that you could view in 3D and basically “fly into” in order to see the nerves that are vulnerable during, say, prostate surgery. There’s really nothing like flying up a 3D rectum to help break the ice on the initial department tour.
This page is the cochlea, which is one of the more oddly beautiful anatomical structures. It’s also an area that I hope future technology is able to repair for those of us with a heavy live music habit.
This page shows relationships between neck arteries and the vagus nerve, which is the tenth cranial nerve, and I’d say the weirdest. It’s a nerve that originates at the base of the brain (hence it is a cranial nerve) but it enervates all of the abdominal viscera, and apparently made me faint while having my ears examined as a child. It’s also the supposed route for the gut flora/brain connection.
Here are some sketchnotes from a current anatomy student, my cousin Ryan, who recently discovered his sketching ability.
This one has a little tribute to the Violent Femmes (I think).
Photo credit: Ryan Kohl
