Prostate metastatic bone cancer in an Egyptian Ptolemaic mummy, a proposed radiological diagnosis

Abstract

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.