' A MUMMY'S CT SCAN ' : COMPREHENSION RESEARCH

A mummy's CT scan results : Broken ribs and back pain. Technology reveals injuries and ailments suffered thousands of years ago.

The patients were old - more than 2,200 years old. But the medical experts were determined to give them a cutting edge 21st century exam.

First up was Nes-Hor, a priest in the Temple of Min, who died Circa 190 B.C.E. and whose body was wrapped in a linen shroud that had blackened over the centuries.

Then came Nes-Min, circa 330 B.C.E., who had been draped in a netted garment with strands of vibrant beads.

Researchers at the University of  Southern California recently used high-resolution CT scanners and medical-grade 3-D printers to conduct virtual autopsies on the two Egyptian mummies.

Their goal, as with any patient, was to illuminate ailments and injuries.

The scanner captured 320 different cross-section images of the mummies per rotation, slices that stacked together '' like a loaf of bread '' to form 3-D digital models, said Summer Decker, the director of the university's Center for Innovation in Medical Visualisation, who oversaw the project.

From there, her team analyzed the mummies' various anatomical structures and used 3-D printers to create life-size reproductions of their spines, skulls and hips.

RADIOLOGY is a fast-moving field, and '' as technology advances, you've got to go back and look,  and ask what you might learn from your new tools,'' Dr. Decker said.

Given the high resolution - the slices were less than half a millimeter thick - the team was able to find artifacts and details that were new or even contradictory to past reports.

Researchers had previously noticed, for example, that Nes-Min, who they believed lived into his 40s, had broken bones along his right rib cage, all of which had healed, suggesting some type of traumatic fall or attack he had survived earlier in life.

They also believed he had suffered from chronic lower back pain, given that he had a collapsed lumbar vertebra.

Dr. Decker and James Schanandore, a human anatomist who studies prehistorical remains, discovered possible burr holes in the spine, which suggested that he had most likely undergone some type of back surgery similar to trephination, which was almost unheard of at the time.

'' It is interesting to see some of the same diseases that our modern populations have,'' Dr. Decker said.

Past reports had also indicated that Nes-Min probably died of a dental abscess, the new high-resolution models did not show evidence of something serious enough to be fatal.

This Master Comprehension attempt and Technology Research of Mummies and Past continues. The World Students Society thanks Emily Baumgaertner Mann.