Goiter in an eighteenth-century Sicilian mummy

Citation
R. Ciranni et al., Goiter in an eighteenth-century Sicilian mummy, AM J P ANTH, 108(4), 1999, pp. 427-432
Citations number
20
Categorie Soggetti
Sociology & Antropology","Experimental Biology
Journal title
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ISSN journal
00029483 → ACNP
Volume
108
Issue
4
Year of publication
1999
Pages
427 - 432
Database
ISI
SICI code
0002-9483(199904)108:4<427:GIAESM>2.0.ZU;2-P
Abstract
Goiter is still a frequent pathological condition of the thyroid gland. Goi ter consists of an enlargement of the gland caused by several physiopatholo gic events, the most important of which is deficient intake of iodine. A se ries of eighteenth-century mummies housed in the church of Santa Maria dell a Grazia in Comiso includes one individual showing a pathological condition , with a very large swelling in the antero-inferior region of the neck. X-r ays showed small scattered radiopaque foci. Routine histology showed a larg e number of circular follicles immersed in fibrous tissue. Finally, immunoh istochemistry revealed a strong reactivity for thyroglobulin. The data conf irmed the nature of the tissue as thyroid, and the macroscopic diagnosis is that of thyroid goiter. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.