Monday, November 23, 2009

Doctors Find Atherosclerosis in Scans of Egyptian Mummies

Who: The Journal of the American Medical Association and a team of cardiologists and other doctors.
What: Doctors used CT scanning on mummies from the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo to identify atherosclerosis,which can lead to heart attack or stroke. The article says that The cardiologists were able to identify the disease in some mummies because atherosclerotic tissue often develops calcification, which is visible as bright spots on a CT image.
When: Based on context in the article I would presume that these tests occurred recently, however the mummies lived between 1981 B.C. and A.D. 334.
Where: These mummies were taken to be tested from museums all around the world, 2o of them in fact. I am not sure as to where the testing took place.
Why it is important/My opinion: In my opinion, it is very important to have this new found knowledge because it can give us a better understanding of the disease and helps us in the future with mummies. We now know to test mummies for this disease instead of just assuming their death was a result to environment/lifestyle surroundings.

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