CAT scan of ancient mummy reveals cancer diagnosis after 2000 years

A CAT scan of an ancient Egyptian mummy has given doctors fascinating insight into an illness that still affects us today.

DOCTORS doing tests on a mummified body found in an Egyptian tomb have found the man was suffering from cancer when he died.

The discovery was made when the team performed a full CAT scan on the body, in an attempt to find out what he died from.

While doctors can’t be sure the cancer alone caused his death, it gives a fascinating insight into an illness that still affects us today.

“He had a tumour on his fibula which is one of the two bones of the lower leg,” explains Dr. Mark Levinsohn of Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York.

“Looking at it, it had all the characteristics of a malignant tumour and one that’s somewhat rare. So, here we have a rare circumstance and a rare tumour and that evoked our interest a lot.”

Doctors found the tumour in the man’s fibula.

This is not the first time the man, who has been nicknamed ‘Hen’, has been examined by physicians. His body was last looked at over a decade ago, but equipment has improved significantly since then.

Dr Levinsohn adds: “What, at that time, was a 16-detector scanner is now a 320-detector [scanner] and all that additional information is now derived when we scan the body.”

The team will continue carrying on tests on the body for another two or three months to see what else can be discovered.

This article originally appeared on The Sun.