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Prostate metastatic bone cancer in an Egyptian Ptolemaic mummy, a proposed radiological diagnosis
Carlos Prates, Sandra Sousa, Carlos Oliveira, Salima Ikram
a b s t r a c t
There is great interest in the history and occurrence of human cancer in antiquity and particularly in ancient Egyptian populations. Despite the number of Egyptian mummies and skeletons studied through various means, evidence of primary or metastatic cancer lesions is rare. The Digital Radiography and Multi-Detector Computerized Tomography (MDCT) scans of a male Ptolemaic Egyptian mummy, from the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (MNA) in Lisbon displayed several focal dense bone lesions located mainly on the spine, pelvis, and proximal extremities. The exceptional detail of the MDCT images allowed the proposed diagnosis of osteoblastic metastatic disease, with the prostate being the main hypothesis of origin. These radiologic findings in a wrapped mummy, to the best of our knowledge, have never previously been documented and could be one of the oldest evidence of this disease, as well as being the cause of death.
1. Introduction
The Lisbon Mummy Project (LMP) is a multidisciplinary project initiated in 2007 by a partnership between the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia of Lisbon and Imagens Médicas Integradas (IMI), a Lisbon private medical imaging group, and latter engaging the special support of Siemens Portugal. The main purpose was the non-destructive evaluation of the three human and seven animal mummies from the Egyptian Collection of the MNA, for the very first time. None of the 10 mummies is provenanced, but the human mummies belonged originally to various aristocratic Portuguese families, at least one being traced to Lisbon in the second half of the 18th century (Araujo, 1993; Guedes, 1994)
In April 2007 the investigative phase began with the imaging of the animal mummies. These were radiographed and scanned at the main premises of IMI in Lisbon. High-resolution imaging, showing great detail, was obtained for seven animal mummies: a pottery bird coffin, still sealed that contained the remains of part of an ibis, a wrapped falcon, a wrapped ibis, and four unwrapped crocodile mummies, one juvenile and three neonates. In August 2010 the LMP second phase was completed with the specially designed protocols for the study of the three human mummies of the collection: M1 – a wrapped Ptolemaic mummy (c. 285–30 BC); M2 – the Late Period male mummy named Pabasa (c. 523–332 BC) in an anthropomorphic wooden coffin; and M3 – a Third Intermediate Period male mummy of Irtieru (c. 945–712 BC), in a cartonnage mummy case.
5. Conclusion
Although cancer seems to have been rare in ancient populations due to a variety of reasons, including a shorter life expectancy and the absence of many carcinogens encountered subsequent to the Industrial Revolution, this investigation of a Ptolemaic Egyptian mummy strongly suggests that prostate cancer, the most common type of modern cancers, was present in antiquity. These radiologic findings in a wrapped mummy, to the best of our knowledge, have never previously been documented, and could be one of the oldest evidence of this disease, and also constitute an admissible cause of death.
Carlos Prates, Sandra Sousa, Carlos Oliveira, Salima Ikram
a b s t r a c t
There is great interest in the history and occurrence of human cancer in antiquity and particularly in ancient Egyptian populations. Despite the number of Egyptian mummies and skeletons studied through various means, evidence of primary or metastatic cancer lesions is rare. The Digital Radiography and Multi-Detector Computerized Tomography (MDCT) scans of a male Ptolemaic Egyptian mummy, from the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (MNA) in Lisbon displayed several focal dense bone lesions located mainly on the spine, pelvis, and proximal extremities. The exceptional detail of the MDCT images allowed the proposed diagnosis of osteoblastic metastatic disease, with the prostate being the main hypothesis of origin. These radiologic findings in a wrapped mummy, to the best of our knowledge, have never previously been documented and could be one of the oldest evidence of this disease, as well as being the cause of death.
1. Introduction
The Lisbon Mummy Project (LMP) is a multidisciplinary project initiated in 2007 by a partnership between the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia of Lisbon and Imagens Médicas Integradas (IMI), a Lisbon private medical imaging group, and latter engaging the special support of Siemens Portugal. The main purpose was the non-destructive evaluation of the three human and seven animal mummies from the Egyptian Collection of the MNA, for the very first time. None of the 10 mummies is provenanced, but the human mummies belonged originally to various aristocratic Portuguese families, at least one being traced to Lisbon in the second half of the 18th century (Araujo, 1993; Guedes, 1994)
In April 2007 the investigative phase began with the imaging of the animal mummies. These were radiographed and scanned at the main premises of IMI in Lisbon. High-resolution imaging, showing great detail, was obtained for seven animal mummies: a pottery bird coffin, still sealed that contained the remains of part of an ibis, a wrapped falcon, a wrapped ibis, and four unwrapped crocodile mummies, one juvenile and three neonates. In August 2010 the LMP second phase was completed with the specially designed protocols for the study of the three human mummies of the collection: M1 – a wrapped Ptolemaic mummy (c. 285–30 BC); M2 – the Late Period male mummy named Pabasa (c. 523–332 BC) in an anthropomorphic wooden coffin; and M3 – a Third Intermediate Period male mummy of Irtieru (c. 945–712 BC), in a cartonnage mummy case.
5. Conclusion
Although cancer seems to have been rare in ancient populations due to a variety of reasons, including a shorter life expectancy and the absence of many carcinogens encountered subsequent to the Industrial Revolution, this investigation of a Ptolemaic Egyptian mummy strongly suggests that prostate cancer, the most common type of modern cancers, was present in antiquity. These radiologic findings in a wrapped mummy, to the best of our knowledge, have never previously been documented, and could be one of the oldest evidence of this disease, and also constitute an admissible cause of death.
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