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4 - Computed Tomography Evidence of Atherosclerosis in Ancient Mummies

The Horus Studies of Mummies from Five Continents

from Part I - Evidence from Mummified Tissues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2023

By
Randall C. Thompson ,
Ashna Mahadev ,
M. Linda Sutherland  and
Gregory S. Thomas
Edited by
Michaela Binder ,
Charlotte A. Roberts  and
Daniel Antoine
Michaela Binder
Affiliation:
Novetus GmbH Archaeological Services
Charlotte A. Roberts
Affiliation:
Durham University
Daniel Antoine
Affiliation:
British Museum, London
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Summary

Following the century-old landmark work by bacteriologist and experimental pathologist Sir Marc Armand Ruffer, who demonstrated the presence of atherosclerosis during autopsies of multiple Egyptian mummies (Ruffer, 1911), an international multidisciplinary group of physicians and scientists (the Horus Team, named for the Egyptian deity; Finch, 2011.) formed to evaluate the existence, extent and aetiology of atherosclerosis in ancient peoples. The Horus Team first described atherosclerotic calcifications on computed tomography (CT) scans in 2009 (Allam et al., 2009).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Bioarchaeology of Cardiovascular Disease , pp. 66 - 80
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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