A virtual three-dimension human body capable of replacing cadavers in surgical studies has been developed by a medical graduate in Kerala.

The software, titled '3-D Indiana,' developed by Dr Jerome Kalister, has been referred to the Medical Council of India for tests and approval.

Developed by a 20 member-team led by Jerome, the software could help surgeons to perform robotic surgery on the brain, heart and liver pinpointing the precise location of nerves and organ parts.

"The software has more advantage than cadavers and will be a dominant feature in medical colleges in future. The important thing is that cadavers cannot be reused whereas surgical methods can be always learnt through the 3-D virtual body," Jerome told PTI in Thiruvananthapuram.

Many uses which cannot be performed on a real body could be used in the 3-D structure to identify the relative orientation, shape, position and texture of the human body with the plenty of options available in the software, he said.

The only objection being raised against the software was that students would not get a 'feel' of the human body, but Jerome said: "Skill is not developed by doing cadavers. I do not think students, teachers or anatomists are benefitted by the feel."

If the criteria adopted by the Medical Council of India and Anatomical Society of India were satisfied, the software could slowly eclipse cadavers.

The software could also be marketed in certain countries where cadavers were not allowed for medical studies, he said.

The software was the first of its kind developed in Asia, though in US it had been tested a few years back, Jerome said.

The virutal human body software was the result of Jerome's research of three years. It was presented before the Anatomical Society of India and was endorsed last year.

National Rural Health Mission Director Dinesh Arora was approaching the MCI for its approval for the software, he said.

"When we were studying, we could get a body for four or five students. Nowadays, a whole batch gets only one body to learn," Jerome said.

The NRHM plans to use the software in a pilot way in one of the medical colleges in the state from the next academic year. With the green signal from MCI, it could be used in all government medical colleges in the country.

Jerome also has plans to get the patent for the software to make the MCI direct all medical colleges in the country to introduce it for study.

Jerome was helped in his task by a group of software engineers, medical experts and structural engineers to develop the fully navigable, three-dimensional virtual human body.

"3-D Indiana is a replica of the human body with each organ, bone, muscle, nerve and blood vessels. Every structure in the human body is recreated in its true anatomical relations based on real-time dissections, text books and lab tests," Jerome said.

Each organ can be isolated, inspected and dissected using the software transparently. The orientation would be the same for students as in the case of cadavers, he said.