Organs: Journey Through Brain And Prostate

Two huge eyes watch the goings-on in the CCD south. They do not belong to an alien but to an oversized model of a brain that were together with other walkable organs one of the attractions at MEDICA.21/11/2009

Walkable brain in the CCD South;
© Messe Düsseldorf

"In 2005 our intestine was born", explains Dagmara Bruchalska. The project manager of the Congress and Culture Management GmbH can tell interested visitors a lot about the true to detail organs. And about the idea of the models: "Above all we wanted to give patients and medical laypersons a vivid understanding of the organs complexity", she explains.

Each of the models has been developed under scientific instruction. "We plan and realise the organs in cooperation with a luminary of the particular topic", says Bruchalska. Thus, a neurology specialist is primarily participating in the development of the brain. "Actually we also wanted to bring the heart with us, but unfortunately it did not fit into the CCD", explains the project manager regretfully. The trade fair tried everything to get the heart with a height of four and a half metres into the Congress Center but they had no chance. Maybe the heart will be there at MEDICA next year and find a place of honour in the inner courtyard - appropriate to its extent.

Instead of the heart, this year’s visitors found a walkable prostate gland, an oversized kidney and a huge model of a vessel - the youngest member of the organ collection. It is not only the size of the models which fascinates the visitors but also their interactivity. Areas which symbolise tissue are soft like foam. Other areas where you can find bones in reality are hard like a stone. This detailed representation delights everybody: no matter if child or adult, patient or doctor.

Simone Heimann
MEDICA.de