Arteriosclerosis in paleopathology. Are macroscopic findings well known?

Frequency of biological non-skeletal materials in dry bone scenarios

“…Yet, very few reports describe their recovery and identification in forensic cases. 12 The high frequency of biological non-skeletal material finding in a worst-case scenario with very long PMIs presented in this research testifies to the need for additional training in their recognition and recovery in dry bone scenarios, and research for their analysis as they can provide substantial information in forensic cases, in particular to implement the biological profile with information regarding advanced age and pathological conditions, or to perform further analyses (such as DNA typing or toxicological analyses).…”

“…Yet, reporting of these non-skeletal materials in forensic cases remains rare. 12 But how frequent are these biological non-osseous materials in skeletonized remains? Are they uncommon or a frequent but slighted occurrence?…”

Ageing and the Body in Archaeology

“…Plaques of atherosclerosis are occasionally preserved (Binder & Roberts 2014;Subirana-Domènech et al 2012;Thompson et. al.…”

Survival of Atherosclerotic Calcifications in Skeletonized Material: Forensic and Pathological Implications

“…Arteriosclerosis can impair any artery (most commonly the femoral, tibial, and uterine arteries) by increasing the arterial wall stiffness and reducing its elastance and is closely linked to lower extremity amputations in individuals with diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality . Scarce information is available in the literature concerning the macroscopic appearance of these calcifications and is reported here as follows: arteriosclerosis creates circumferential and contiguous nonluminal obstructive calcifications and atherosclerotic calcifications, by far the most common, are of tubular form .…”

“…However, mummies represent a very small proportion of the archeological data and so the diagnosis of CVD on this limited sample underestimates its actual frequency on past populations. Moreover, atherosclerosis is recognized in forensic pathology through characteristics such as luminal narrowing, thickening of an arterial wall and atheromatous findings, but is rarely diagnosed when confronted to skeletonized individuals . It is known that the medical diagnosis of atherosclerosis relies on the medical imaging of a plaque .…”