Shortly after the publication of Tabulae anatomicae sex, Vesalius completed this revision of Institutiones anatomicae, a Galenic anatomical text by his teacher Johann Guinter first published in 1536. Vesalius justified his new edition by citing the numerous typographical errors in the original; however, he also incorporated much new material detailing the minutiae of dissection and offering several independent anatomical judgments. These included the anti-Galenic observation that the cardiac systole is synchronous with the arterial pulse, an observation he would discuss again in his venesection epistle.

This work was edited with an English translation, and notes from Vesalius's own copy, by Vivian Nutton, in 2017. See No. 9092.