Department of Clinical Anatomy supports clinical medicine through formulation of human anatomical and developmental biological bases of diagnoses and surgical procedures. We handle the whole body in human anatomical researches. We think it is classic but important to represent human morphology for exactly what they are based on meticulous observations of human body structures regardless of diagnostic technics and surgical procedures. Our researches are aimed to share languages among all clinicians based on clinical anatomy by describing the results of observations in an accessible way for clinicians. In addition, we perform analyses using experimental embryological approaches and developmental biological approaches, because we think it is important to consider how human structures are constructed.

1) Clinical anatomic study of the shoulder joint and rotator cuff.
2) Clinical anatomic study of the anal region for the rectoanal surgery.
3) Cadaveric study of the female pelvis for the gynecologic oncology and colposcopy.
4) Analyses of the lamination in the masticatory muscles with special reference of nerve supply.
5) Embryological study of the differentiation of cloaca and surrounding muscles.

Clinical anatomy is generally considered as the practical application of anatomical knowledge to diagnosis and treatment, however we think that this course is a part of pure anatomical science based on the findings of the morphological observations of the human bodies. Main objective of Clinical anatomy in the graduate course is to make detailed anatomical data to answer the questions developed from clinical fields especially by surgeons and radiologists. We collaborate with many clinicians: ENT, orthopedics, gynecology, thoracic surgery, radiology and so on, and our projects have been broad areas. Students are expected to get fine dissection techniques of human bodies and also learn techniques of histology and embryological experiments. By using these techniques, we study the spatial relationships of organs, vessels nerves, and also try to examine their developmental processes in various projects.

Theories and hypotheses of morphogenesis derived from descriptive anatomy and descriptive biology have been confirmed and modified by experimental biology. Furthermore, progresses of developmental biology identified molecules and signaling pathways involved in the morphogenesis. Progresses in the developmental biology also verified morphological hypotheses, and added revisions to the morphological models. The postulates of the morphological models which are currently investigated were built and completed by Anatomy. However, we find Anatomy is still not completed and has many obscure issues through careful dissection of human body. It might be thought that everything was done and there could be no new finding in the human anatomical field anymore because the anatomy employs the classic procedures such as the gross anatomy. However, there are still a lot of unclear anatomical topics, because they had not been focused and not investigated with their clinical significances.