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Erosive effects of a posterior mediastinal mass in a 18th to early 19th c. Spanish child mummy

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Abstract

During the 2011 restoration works in the central nave of the church of the Assumption of Our Lady, known as “The Piquete”, in the village of Quinto (about 50 kms southwest of Zaragoza, Spain), the remains of 70 individuals were uncovered. Of these there were 32 mummified bodies, four of which have been investigated with CT scans. Here we report on the findings in one such individual, namely a child of between 7 and 8 years of age, whose sex is debatable but may well be female. The main pathological finding is the presence of pressure erosion and distortion of the upper thoracic spine, the cause of which is discussed with the conclusion that this may well represent a neurenteric duplication cyst. The possible consequences of such a lesion are considered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, University of Manchester, 3.5 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK

    Robert D. Loynes

  2. Section of Medical and Forensic Anthropology (UVSQ DANTE Laboratory EA 4498), Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France

    Philippe Charlier

  3. CASH & IPES, Nanterre, France

    Philippe Charlier

  4. Department of Medicine, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, Gorizia, Italy

    Antonio Perciaccante

  5. Institute for the Scientific Study of Mummies (IECIM), Madrid, Spain

    Mercedes Gonzalez & Anna Begerock

  6. Legal Medicine Section, Department of Public Health and Paediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Rafaella Bianucci

  7. Warwick Medical School, Microbiology and Infection Unit, The University of Warwick, Warwick, UK

    Rafaella Bianucci

  8. UMR 7268, Laboratoire d’Anthropologiebio-culturelle, Droit, Etique&Santé (Adés), Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, Marseille, France

    Rafaella Bianucci

Authors
  1. Robert D. Loynes
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  2. Philippe Charlier
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  3. Antonio Perciaccante
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  4. Mercedes Gonzalez
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  5. Anna Begerock
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  6. Rafaella Bianucci
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Correspondence to Robert D. Loynes.

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Loynes, R.D., Charlier, P., Perciaccante, A. et al. Erosive effects of a posterior mediastinal mass in a 18th to early 19th c. Spanish child mummy. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 14, 574–578 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-018-0013-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-018-0013-8

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