An Egyptian man may have survived brain surgery around 600 B.C. and the Milwaukee Public Museum wants to find out for sure.
Officials there plan to do computerized tomography, or CT scans, on three mummies on Tuesday.
The Egyptian man may have had a procedure called trepanation, which involves scraping or drilling into the skull.
The museum's head of anthropology and history, Carter Lupton, says the museum did CT scans on the skull in 1986 and in 2006. The skull's hole didn't show up in 1986 but with technological advances by 2006 they saw a circular section of the top removed. He says bone seemed to grow back, which indicates the person survived.
A CT scan now could provide details and tell them how long he lived after surgery.
Source: Fox 11 [April 02, 2011]
Officials there plan to do computerized tomography, or CT scans, on three mummies on Tuesday.
The Egyptian man may have had a procedure called trepanation, which involves scraping or drilling into the skull.
The museum's head of anthropology and history, Carter Lupton, says the museum did CT scans on the skull in 1986 and in 2006. The skull's hole didn't show up in 1986 but with technological advances by 2006 they saw a circular section of the top removed. He says bone seemed to grow back, which indicates the person survived.
A CT scan now could provide details and tell them how long he lived after surgery.
Source: Fox 11 [April 02, 2011]