Uiliam Florentino dos Santos; Abel Ramalho Galvão; Arabela Rocha Correia; Cíntia Anjos Braga Pereira; Graciane de Oliveira de Jesus; Fernando França Reis & Marcus Vinicius Linhares de Oliveira

Human Anatomy education faces challenges related to the reduced use of cadavers, driving the adoption of complementary teaching strategies that promote active learning and integration with clinical practice. To describe, at a technical- methodological level, the feasibility of using the open-source software 3D Slicer as a complementary educational resource for teaching vertebral bone anatomy. A descriptive and exploratory study was conducted, involving bone segmentation of a human vertebra (L3) from computed tomography images using semi-automatic tools, manual refinement, and three-dimensional reconstruction, followed by 3D printing. Semi-automatic segmentation was effective for initial bone delineation but insufficient to ensure anatomical fidelity in complex structures, making manual refinement essential. Operational factors, such as learning curve, infrastructure requirements, and occasional software instabilities, affected workflow feasibility. 3D Slicer proved to be a viable complementary tool for teaching bone anatomy, supporting active learning, spatial understanding, and the integration of morphology with clinical practice, despite technical limitations.

KEY WORDS: Human anatomy; Bone segmentation; Three-dimensional modeling; Anatomy education; 3D Slicer.

DOS SANTOS, U. F.; GALVÃO, A. R.; ROCHA CORREIA, A.; BRAGA PEREIRA, C. A.; DE OLIVEIRA DE JESUS, G.; FRANÇA REIS, F. & LINHARES DE OLIVEIRA, M. V. Bone segmentation of a human vertebra using the 3D Slicer software: Technical-methodological contributions to anatomy teaching. Int. J. Morphol.,44(4):1157-1164, 2026.