Egypt
Journal of the American Medical Association
The full text is not available online without subscription, purchase or institutional access.
And the reply . . .
- Atherosclerosis And Diet In Ancient Egypt
The Lancet Thanks to Tony Cagle's Archaeoblog for this link. The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9716, Pages 718 - 719, 27 February 2010 Rosalie David, Amie Kershaw and Anthony Heagerty Atherosclerosis is often considered a modern disease, yet...
- Photos Of Scans Looking For Mummy Disease
National Geographic Slideshow. An unidentified Egyptian mummy dated back to between 688 and 332 B.C. slides into a CT scanner as part of a recent study of ancient disease. The mummy was among 52 from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo subjected to medical scanning...
- Mummy Royalty Show Signs Of Clogged Arteries
Science (Heather Pringle) In the ancient tomb paintings of the Nile Valley, Egypt's nobility often appears lithe, beautiful, and, above all, healthy. But researchers have long doubted that life at the top of the social pyramid in ancient Egypt was...
- Priests Ate Like Gods – And Paid By Dying Young
Manchester University The splendid banquets offered to ancient Egyptian gods may have been delicious and bountiful but they were also a killer, blocking the arteries of the high priests who made the offerings in the temples then took them home to their...
- Talking Mummies
...
Egypt
Letter - Assessment of Atherosclerosis in Egyptian Mummies
Journal of the American Medical Association
The full text is not available online without subscription, purchase or institutional access.
To the Editor: In their Research Letter, Dr Allam and colleagues described the presence of calcium hydroxyapatite in vessel walls in 15 of 22 ancient Egyptian mummies examined with whole-body 6-slice computed tomographic (CT) imaging. The authors stated that "[c]alcification in the wall of a clearly identifiable artery was considered diagnostic of atherosclerosis, and calcification along an artery's expected course was considered probable atherosclerosis." We believe that this criterion was incorrect.
When observing a vascular calcification on a CT (particularly 6-slice), it is not possible to distinguish lesions of atherosclerosis and mediacalcosis. Mediacalcosis is a thickening and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries (particularly but not exclusively muscular ones) due to a calcification of the tunica media, the concentric layers of helically arranged smooth muscle cells. Such lesions may be seen in all the sites described in the article by Allam et al (abdominal aorta, aortic arch, popliteals, . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Philippe Charlier, MD, PhD
[email protected]
Department of Forensic Medicine and Pathology
University Hospital R. Poincaré (AP-HP, UVSQ)
Garches, France
Isabelle Huynh, MD
Department of Radiology
University Hospital Pitié Salpétrière (AP-HP)
Paris, France
And the reply . . .
Drs Charlier and Huynh propose that mediasclerosis is a unique disease, manifest as calcification of the tunica medica, a disease completely different from atherosclerosis, which they presumably would define exclusively as a disease of the intima. We believe that atherosclerosis is a multifaceted, systemic disease that encompasses both of these histologic features. The earliest pathologic manifestations of atherosclerosis include intimal thickening and fatty streaks, but complex changes occur as the disease progresses, with structural remodeling of the vessel, cellular infiltrates, lipid accumulation, thrombosis, fibrosis, and calcification involving the media as well as the adventitia.
Although mediasclerosis (also called Monckeberg sclerosis) has been attributed by some to a distinct disease process, others regard it as an advanced form of atherosclerosis, most commonly seen in patients with chronic kidney disease and diabetes. These patients often die from heart disease, another manifestation of the systemic disease of atherosclerosis. A distinct metabolic . . . [Full Text of this Article]
- Atherosclerosis And Diet In Ancient Egypt
The Lancet Thanks to Tony Cagle's Archaeoblog for this link. The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9716, Pages 718 - 719, 27 February 2010 Rosalie David, Amie Kershaw and Anthony Heagerty Atherosclerosis is often considered a modern disease, yet...
- Photos Of Scans Looking For Mummy Disease
National Geographic Slideshow. An unidentified Egyptian mummy dated back to between 688 and 332 B.C. slides into a CT scanner as part of a recent study of ancient disease. The mummy was among 52 from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo subjected to medical scanning...
- Mummy Royalty Show Signs Of Clogged Arteries
Science (Heather Pringle) In the ancient tomb paintings of the Nile Valley, Egypt's nobility often appears lithe, beautiful, and, above all, healthy. But researchers have long doubted that life at the top of the social pyramid in ancient Egypt was...
- Priests Ate Like Gods – And Paid By Dying Young
Manchester University The splendid banquets offered to ancient Egyptian gods may have been delicious and bountiful but they were also a killer, blocking the arteries of the high priests who made the offerings in the temples then took them home to their...
- Talking Mummies
...