WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Doctors didn’t have much of a medical history to help them unwrap the cause of death of their oldest patient, a 2,100-year-old female mummy.
But a radiology team at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach was up for the challenge of solving an ancient medical mystery. On Thursday, the team revealed its theory of what caused the patient’s death so many years ago: appendicitis.
“This is what science is all about, solving a mystery,” said Lew Crampton, CEO of the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach, where the mummy is on display. “Thanks to medical science, technology and brilliant engineering, we are unlocking secrets today that can inform history more than 2,000 years old.”
It wasn’t a typical case for the team of doctors who looked over the patient dubbed “Mummy Girl.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Dr. Chad Kelman, chief of radiology at the hospital. “This isn’t something we as physicians train for.”
Doctors performed a CT scan on the mummy Oct. 10 to come up with the working diagnosis. Relying on the scans, they reviewed her bone structure, size and teeth.
They compared their findings to X-rays that were taken of the mummy more than 40 years ago. The older scans had initially led doctors to believe the mummy was somewhere between the age of 4 and 9, and that she had died of tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis had been the diagnosis based on what appeared to be missing vertebrae in the lower spine. Kelman said infections, like tuberculosis, can wear away bone.
But based on the modern scans, doctors say she likely is a Caucasian toddler — no older than 3?½ — who may have died from a ruptured appendix, more commonly known as appendicitis.
What didn’t change was the mummy’s gender. Doctors said they could see braided hair under her gilded mask, which reinforced she was female.
The new cause of death came after doctors discovered the “missing” vertebrae weren’t really missing. Rather, they were displaced. Scans showed the bones were lodged in her chest.
Kelman said it is likely the bones shifted during the mummification process because toddlers’ bones aren’t always completely fused in place.
Now, the theory is appendicitis, based on a “small, bright spot” doctors found in her central abdomen measuring 4.87 centimeters in diameter. Kelman said the spot is likely a calcified deposit that caused blockage to the appendix, resulting in a ruptured appendix.
While the new diagnosis may have helped crack the ancient case, Crampton said it has opened the door to even more questions. Could the mummy be the oldest documented case of death by appendicitis?
“With this mystery has come startling results, stories that bring the cold, hard facts of science to life,” he said.
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