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Study leader John Weinman of King's College London aimed to update a similar survey carried out almost 40 years ago.

"We thought that the improvements in education seen since then, coupled with an increased media focus on medical and health related topics, and growing access to the Internet as a source of medical information, might have led to an increase in patients' anatomical knowledge", Weinman said in a statement. "As it turns out, there has been no significant improvement in the intervening years."

The 722 study participants were shown pictures of the human body -- male or female -- with certain areas shaded out and were asked which of the shaded areas was the location of a given organ.

The study, published in the BMC Family Practice, found that although 85.9 percent of people could identify the location of the intestines and 80.7 percent knew where the bladder could be found, 46.5 percent of people correctly identified the heart and 68.6 percent misidentified the position of the lungs.

Overall, approximately half of the answers were correct. There was no significant difference between men and women, although women did perform better when dealing with a female body.

The researchers said they are concerned about the potential problems these findings reveal in doctor-patient communication.

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