Environmental Burdens of Long-Term Cadaver Pool Storage Solutions: A Screening Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment...

Cadaver-based anatomy teaching relies on preservation systems that allow donated bodies to remain usable across repeated teaching sessions. Formaldehyde exposure in dissection facilities has been studied extensively, yet the upstream environmental burden associated with long-term cadaver pool maintenance solutions has received much less attention. In this screening cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment, three pool formulations were compared: Kinnamon storage solution, Original Larssen solution, and Modified Larssen solution. Institutional recipe data were converted into component masses, and cradle-to-gate emission factors were assigned from available life cycle inventory sources or, where no direct match was available, from explicitly labeled chemical-category proxies. The main result was expressed per kilogram of prepared mixture; the volume-based value was retained only as an auxiliary indicator per liquid input volume. In the baseline model, Modified Larssen had the lowest mass-normalized GWP100 value (0.510 kg CO₂e/kg), followed by Kinnamon storage solution (0.665 kg CO₂e/kg) and Original Larssen solution (0.699 kg CO₂e/kg). The leading hotspots were glycerin or glycerol in the Kinnamon and Modified Larssen formulations, and chloral hydrate in the Original Larssen formulation. Thus, the modeled climate burden was not explained by formaldehyde content alone. Because toxicity, occupational exposure, service life, wastewater treatment, and disposal were not included in the quantitative boundary, these results should be interpreted as a screening inventory for reformulation priorities, not as a complete sustainability ranking.