Enhanced Anatomy Provided by Clinical Anomaly: Fourth Stage Vaginal Prolapse in a Medical Anatomy Lab

There is increased emphasis in early medical education to further enhance student empathy and compassion, to model physician, patient and care-giver considerations, and to heighten professionalism. The cadaver dissection lab offers a unique venue to hone these important considerations and it remains a valuable and time-honored practice in the training of physicians and other health professionals. Discoveries of congenital and acquired anomalies, pre-mortem clinical interventions including surgeries, device implantations, etc., as well as natural anatomical variations in cadaveric remains in the medical anatomy lab can be extraordinarily useful to facilitate these emphases and augment the overall learning experience of medical professionals in training. The authors present an unusual case-discovery in the anatomy lab, of a fourth stage vaginal prolapse with complete eversion and protrusion from the pelvis through the vaginal orifice and containing a rectocele. This anomaly discovered in a cadaver of an 89-year-old Caucasian woman proved to be extraordinarily instructive as well as motivating to our medical students learning female reproductive and pelvic anatomy. Discussions regarding compassion, empathy, care-giver and physician responsibilities, and professionalism all contributed to this learning experience. This and numerous other anomalous findings in the anatomy lab provide extraordinarily valuable tools to further enlighten students regarding ‘Doctoring’, and of course, facilitate learning of human anatomy.