Aortic inflation with agar injection is a useful method of cadaveric preparation which creates a mediastinal anatomy that better mimics the living body for surgical training.

In cadavers, even Thiel-embalmed cadavers, the arteries (especially the thoracic aorta) are extremely collapsed. This is in marked contrast to the state of the arteries in a living body. Aortic inflation is necessary to improve this unfavorable situation for anatomical observation or dissection. To inflate the aorta, we injected 500 ml of hot liquid agar into the aorta using a 18-Fr catheter inserted into the common femoral artery and subclavian artery. The injected agar then rapidly cools to room temperature and solidifies. As a result, the thoracic aorta remains sufficiently and constantly inflated in the mediastinum. This method is not only easy and inexpensive, but also useful and effective for achieving a life-like anatomy in cadavers used in surgical training for operations involving mediastinal organs, with the exception of the heart and great vessels.