A dinosaurian facial deformity and the first occurrence of ameloblastoma in the fossil record

Dumbravă, Mihai D.; Rothschild, Bruce M.; Weishampel, David B.; Csiki-Sava, Zoltán; Andrei, R; Acheson, Katharine A.; Codrea, Vlad

doi:10.1038/srep29271

Cited by 32 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…A search for pathologies in paleontological skeletal collections revealed unique lesions in a hadrosaur, which differed in character from what we had previously observed in individuals (both human and non-human) with cancer and bone tumors 35,45 . However, these lesions were indistinguishable from those noted in a human with clinically documented LCH.…”

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confidence: 78%

Suggested Case of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis in a Cretaceous dinosaur

Rothschild

Tanke

Ruhli

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Susceptibility to diseases is common to humans and dinosaurs. Since much of the biological history of every living creature is shaped by its diseases, recognizing them in fossilized bone can furnish us with important information on dinosaurs' physiology and anatomy, as well as on their daily activities and surrounding environment. In the present study, we examined the vertebrae of two humans from skeletal collections with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH), a benign osteolytic tumor-like disorder involving mainly the skeleton; they were diagnosed in life, along with two hadrosaur vertebrae with an apparent lesion. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of the hadrosaur vertebrae were compared to human LCH and to other pathologies observed via an extensive pathological survey of a human skeletal collection, as well as a three-dimensional reconstruction of the lesion and its associated blood vessels from a µCT scan. The hadrosaur pathology findings were indistinguishable from those of humans with LCH, supporting that diagnosis. This report suggests that hadrosaurids had suffered from larger variety of pathologies than previously reported. Furthermore, it seems that LCH may be independent of phylogeny.Understanding diseases that affected dinosaurs may shed additional light on their biology, daily living, and the environments in which they thrived. Despite the huge time gap between dinosaurs and humans, both were susceptible to diseases that shaped and greatly affected their evolutionary history. Thus, recognition of skeletal manifestations of specific diseases in humans may assist in identifying them in dinosaurs as well. For example, gout was recognized in tyrannosaurids 1 , osteoarthritis in Iguanodon 2 , and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) in Apatosaurus 3 . Neoplasms (cancer), albeit more difficult to diagnose (several misclassified cases were published in the past years), have also been identified in dinosaurs 4,5 . Disease occurrence in dinosaurs is very infrequent. When present, however, it can tell us about dinosaurs' immune systems, metabolic disorders, growth and adaptation to a huge body mass, infections, environment, as well as shed light on their mating patterns and hunting techniques.Herbivorous hadrosaurs, also referred to as "duck-billed" dinosaurs, have a near-global Late Cretaceous fossil record. They reached a length of over ten meters, weighed several tons, and appear to have lived in large herds. They are particularly well-known in southern Alberta, Canada where individual bones and teeth occur in abundance. In addition, several dozen hadrosaur-dominated bonebeds and hundreds of partial-to-complete skeletons have been discovered. In Dinosaur Provincial Park, examples of hadrosaur osteopathy are so common that more than half a dozen examples can be found daily by an experienced field worker. A number of hadrosaur taxa are known from the Park: the cranially uncrested Gryposaurus and Prosaurolophus as well as the crested Corythosaurus and Lambeosaurus are the most common. Trauma, in ...

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confidence: 78%

Suggested Case of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis in a Cretaceous dinosaur

Rothschild

Tanke

Ruhli

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…However, metabolic disorders have also been described, such as Paget's disease or gout 32,87,92 . Nevertheless, some pathologies are reported predominantly for specific NAD groups 93,94 ( Fig. 6).…”

Section: Differential Diagnosis Based On Phylogenetic Disease Bracketmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neoplasm. Neoplasia is generally rare in vertebrate fossils 86,93 . The earliest record of an NAD neoplasm in form of a haemangioma is documented from an undetermined dinosaur bone fragment of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation 95 .…”

Section: Differential Diagnosis Based On Phylogenetic Disease Bracketmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comprehensive diagnostic approach combining phylogenetic disease bracketing and CT imaging reveals osteomyelitis in a Tyrannosaurus rex

Hamm

Hampe

Schwarz

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Traditional palaeontological techniques of disease characterisation are limited to the analysis of osseous fossils, requiring several lines of evidence to support diagnoses. This study presents a novel stepwise concept for comprehensive diagnosis of pathologies in fossils by computed tomography imaging for morphological assessment combined with likelihood estimation based on systematic phylogenetic disease bracketing. This approach was applied to characterise pathologies of the left fibula and fused caudal vertebrae of the non-avian dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex. Initial morphological assessment narrowed the differential diagnosis to neoplasia or infection. Subsequent data review from phylogenetically closely related species at the clade level revealed neoplasia rates as low as 3.1% and 1.8%, while infectious-disease rates were 32.0% and 53.9% in extant dinosaurs (birds) and non-avian reptiles, respectively. Furthermore, the survey of literature revealed that within the phylogenetic disease bracket the oldest case of bone infection (osteomyelitis) was identified in the mandible of a 275-million-year-old captorhinid eureptile Labidosaurus. These findings demonstrate low probability of a neoplastic aetiology of the examined pathologies in the Tyrannosaurus rex and in turn, suggest that they correspond to multiple foci of osteomyelitis.

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“…Although diagnosis of tumours in the absence of soft tissue histology or immunologic markers is often difficult (Dujardin et al, ; Yoshida et al, ), their macroscopic and radiologic (standard and macro‐CT) appearance in dry bone is quite reproducible across phylogenetic lines and through time (Barbosa, Pereira, Bergqvist, & Rothschild, ; Dumbravă et al, ; Rothschild & Martin, ; Rothschild, Tanke, Helbling II, & Martin, ). Immunologic testing for tumour markers is becoming state of the art for diagnosis when intact antigens are present, with continued assessment of their specificity (Dujardin et al, ; Fechner & Mills, ; Yoshida et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiologic/histologic discrepancies in tumour identification: The case of a “basketball‐sized” mandibular tumour in a woman from 17th century West Virginia

Rothschild

Robinson

Witt

et al. 2018

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Objectives: When initially discovered in 1963, techniques did not allow definitive diagnosis of the basketball-sized mandibular tumour discovered in a woman from the Buffalo site dated to 17th century West Virginia. Her subsequent medical examiners stated that they "can only speculate as to the true nature of the tumor." An interdisciplinary approach was pursued to assess ability of currently available techniques to resolve this conundrum.Materials and methods: Macroscopic examination, X-ray, computed tomography (CT), micro-CT (7-μ resolution), and epi-illumination microscopy (100-μ resolution) were utilized to identify diagnostic criteria that would allow discrimination among the possible etiologies.Results: Macroscopic examination revealed a 24 by 23 by 19-cm tumour attached to the right mandible. X-ray examination revealed intact trabeculae of reduced size but of uniform thickness. CT examination revealed intact trabeculae of decreased size but uniform thickness. Epi-illumination microscopy confirmed the CT findings. Trabeculae appeared to be intact, uniform in thickness, and with intact connectivity. Micro-CT revealed significant variation in trabecular thickness with frequent areas of resorption and loss of interconnections.Discussion: Osteosarcoma was considered macroscopically, on the basis of tumour size. However, the small, uniformly sized, intact trabeculae recognized on X-ray, CT, and with epi-illumination microscopy presented the pattern anticipated with an osteoblastoma. Micro-CT, however, falsified that diagnosis, in favour of an osteosarcoma diagnosis. The final consideration is of an osteoblastic osteosarcoma, apparently the first recognized in the archaeologic record. The misleading nature of routine X-ray, CT, and even microscopy (at 100-μ resolution) in this case stands as a caveat.

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A dinosaurian facial deformity and the first occurrence of ameloblastoma in the fossil record

Cited by 32 publications

References 37 publications

Suggested Case of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis in a Cretaceous dinosaur

Suggested Case of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis in a Cretaceous dinosaur

A comprehensive diagnostic approach combining phylogenetic disease bracketing and CT imaging reveals osteomyelitis in a Tyrannosaurus rex

Radiologic/histologic discrepancies in tumour identification: The case of a “basketball‐sized” mandibular tumour in a woman from 17th century West Virginia

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