The full body
The full body is BodyParts3D 4.0, an adult male reference anatomy created by the Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS), Japan, from MRI data refined with anatomical illustration. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Reference: Mitsuhashi N. et al., BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts, Nucleic Acids Research, 2009.
We used the meshes as prepared for the web by the open-source Human Atlas project (MIT license), then simplified them further, corrected some system classifications, recolored them and compressed them so the body loads in parts on a phone.
Organ studies and added organs
The organ studies use the Human Reference Atlas female reference organ set v1.5 (HuBMAP; Browne K. and Schlehlein H., 2023), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
BodyParts3D does not include whole lungs, the main body of the liver or the spinal cord. To complete the body, these three were taken from the Human Reference Atlas and fitted into the male body: the lungs were scaled level by level to sit inside the rib cage, the liver was aligned on the gallbladder and the caudate lobe, and the spinal cord segments were placed vertebra by vertebra in the vertebral canal. They are faithful in shape and position for study purposes, but they come from a different reference body.
The thyroid and parathyroid glands are illustrative shapes drawn for this site and placed at their usual position around the larynx and trachea. They are labeled as illustrative in the model.
Known limits
- Peripheral nerves are limited to the nerves around the eye; major nerves such as the sciatic nerve and brachial plexus are described in the text only.
- The middle and inner ear are not modeled; the external ear is.
- Lymph nodes are shown in their own organ study rather than throughout the body.
- Each model is one reference shape. Real organs vary in size and position between people.
Content and accuracy
The explanations, nursing focus points, lab ranges and practice questions are written for nursing students and follow common nursing textbook content. Reference ranges vary between laboratories and textbooks, and clinical practice follows your facility's policies. MedTestBank 3D Anatomy is a study tool, not medical advice.
Spotted a mistake? Tell us through MedTestBank and we will correct it.
Open-source software
three.js (MIT), three-mesh-bvh (MIT), meshoptimizer (MIT), Eleventy (MIT). Fonts: Schibsted Grotesk and Atkinson Hyperlegible (SIL Open Font License).