Ear, nose and throat in ancient Egypt. Part III

History of nasopharyngeal study: A 5,000-year odyssey into our evolving understanding of a small but vital region

The nasopharynx has been understudied relative to neighboring anatomical regions. It is a highly complex, integrated space whose function, development, and evolution remains unclear after nearly 5,000 years of study. Historically, most work on the nasopharynx was done with a focus on adjacent structures. It has most often been mentioned in relation to the middle ear (via the Eustachian tube) in ancient texts and has only later been given a designation as one of three portions of a tripartite pharynx among adult humans. As human dissection became practiced more widely in Renaissance Europe, understanding of the nasopharyngeal boundaries improved. With further advancements in the study of nasopharyngeal development, evolution, and anatomical variation from the 19th century up until the present, this region has been shown to be functionally vital and still complicated to define.

The earliest known case of frontal sinus osteoma in man

Frontal sinus osteoma is a relatively common finding in the modern clinical setting. Although, its paleopathological record is not in dispute, its presence in Ancient Egypt has never been clarified. The aim of this article is to contribute to the debate. An Egyptian mummy head from the Musée d'Éthnographie de Neuchâtel (Switzerland) was studied radiologically and the obtained evidence was contextualized in the wider frame of multidisciplinary paleopathology. A 128-slice CT scanner was used for further investigation; datasets were processed with OsiriX-64 bit (version 5.8.5), and multiplanar (MPR) and volumetric reconstructions were performed. A small hyperdense and well-defined structure, most likely an osteoma, was identified in the right frontal sinus. Frontal sinus osteoma definitely existed in Ancient Egypt. Finally, this represents the oldest case in anatomically modern humans so far reported. Clin. Anat.32:105-109, 2019. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Edwin Smith papyrus: a clinical reappraisal of the oldest known document on spinal injuries

Dating from the seventeenth century B.C: . the Edwin Smith papyrus is a unique treatise containing the oldest known descriptions of signs and symptoms of injuries of the spinal column and spinal cord. Based on a recent "medically based translation" of the Smith papyrus, its enclosed treasures in diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic reasoning are revisited. Although patient demographics, diagnostic techniques and therapeutic options considerably changed over time, the documented rationale on spinal injuries can still be regarded as the state-of-the-art reasoning for modern clinical practice.

Paleodermatoses: lessons learned from mummies

Mummies, the preserved remains of living beings from former times, bear witness across millennia to the maladies plaguing humankind. Disease, older than humanity, is better understood when examined in the context of history. Paleopathology, literally meaning "ancient suffering", is the study of disease through evaluation of ancient remains. This area of increasing medical interest offers insights into the management of public health issues and disease epidemiology. This article provides an introduction and overview to paleodermatology, the branch of dermatology concerned with the evaluation of diseases associated with the integument by examination of ancient human remains. Mummy sources, how they were made and used throughout history, and the multidisciplinary approach used to study skin diseases found in mummies is briefly described. Despite pervasive pseudopathology, a remarkable array of diseases are well substantiated in the paleorecord, including infectious, heritable, nutritional, hormonal, acquired, iatrogenic, and neoplastic disorders. Legitimate ethical concerns have been raised in the use of human remains for any purpose, with the lack of informed consent eliciting accusations of exploitation. While these studies are undertaken with certain risks, such as the acquisition of potentially dangerous or extinct infections, paleodermatology offers a unique and historical perspective on the afflictions of the skin and the way of all flesh.

The Birmingham mummy: the first torticollis in history

The Birmingham Mummy is of a warrior, 25-35 years of age, from the Graeco-Roman period. He was struck from the front by an arrow, which penetrated the soft tissues of the neck to some depth and lodged in the right infratemporal fossa. It is suggested that the wound became infected and that muscle spasm induced the torticollis which was not fully corrected on mummification.