Old hearts for modern investigations: CT and MR for archaeological human hearts remains

Mokrane, Fatima-Zohra; Colleter, Rozenn; Duchesne, Sylvie; Gérard, Pascale; Savall, F.; Crubézy, Éric; Guilbeau‐Frugier, Céline; Moreno, Ramiro; Sewonu, A.; Rousseau, Hervé; Telmon, Norbert

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.08.035

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…There was one exception: an urn that seemed perfectly preserved was maintained in a refrigerated environment at 6 C°. Once removed from their containers, the organs were studied under usual forensic medicine methods (autopsy, macroscopic examination, histology) and high resolution medical imagery such as tomodensitometry and magnetic resonance prior to and after coronary opacification [31]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Procedures and Frequencies of Embalming and Heart Extractions in Modern Period in Brittany. Contribution to the Evolution of Ritual Funerary in Europe

et al. 2016

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The evolution of funeral practices from the Middle Ages through the Modern era in Europe is generally seen as a process of secularization. The study, through imaging and autopsy, of two mummies, five lead urns containing hearts, and more than six hundred skeletons of nobles and clergymen from a Renaissance convent in Brittany has led us to reject this view. In addition to exceptional embalming, we observed instances in which hearts alone had been extracted, a phenomenon that had never before been described, and brains alone as well, and instances in which each spouse's heart had been placed on the other's coffin. In some identified cases we were able to establish links between the religious attitudes of given individuals and either ancient Medieval practices or more modern ones generated by the Council of Trent. All of these practices, which were a function of social status, were rooted in religion. They offer no evidence of secularization whatsoever.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Procedures and Frequencies of Embalming and Heart Extractions in Modern Period in Brittany. Contribution to the Evolution of Ritual Funerary in Europe

et al. 2016

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“…Neither a clinical radiologist nor an expert in postmortem examination may have those competences, which have to be developed in a common approach between those two different specialties. Some examinations such as PMA require specific material and techniques in order to obtain images comparable to clinical angiographic images (Table 1) [3][4][5]15,17,18,23,31,54,55,78,[82][83][84][85][86][87].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postmortem imaging as a complementary tool for the investigation of cardiac death

Michaud

Genet

Sabatasso

et al. 2019

Forensic Sciences Research

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In the past 2 decades, modern radiological methods, such as multiple detector computed tomography (MDCT), MDCT-angiography, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were introduced into postmortem practice for investigation of sudden death (SD), including cases of sudden cardiac death (SCD). In forensic cases, the underlying cause of SD is most frequently cardiovascular with coronary atherosclerotic disease as the leading cause. There are many controversies about the role of postmortem imaging in establishing the cause of death and especially the value of minimally invasive autopsy techniques. This paper discusses the state of the art for postmortem radiological evaluation of the heart compared to classical postmortem examination, especially in cases of SCD. In SCD cases, postmortem CT is helpful to estimate the heart size and to visualize haemopericardium and calcified plaques and valves, as well as to identify and locate cardiovascular devices. Angiographic methods are useful to provide a detailed view of the coronary arteries and to analyse them, especially regarding the extent and location of stenosis and obstruction. In postsurgical cases, it allows verification and documentation of the patency of stents and bypass grafts before opening the body. Postmortem MRI is used to investigate soft tissues such as the myocardium, but images are susceptible to postmortem changes and further work is necessary to increase the understanding of these radiological aspects, especially of the ischemic myocardium. In postsurgery cases, the value of postmortem imaging of the heart is reportedly for the diagnostic and documentation purposes. The implementation of new imaging methods into routine postmortem practice is challenging, as it requires not only an investment in equipment but, more importantly, investment in the expertise of interpreting the images. Once those requirements are implemented, however, they bring great advantages in investigating cases of SCD, as they allow documentation of the body, orientation of sampling for further analyses and gathering of other information that cannot be obtained by conventional autopsy such as a complete visualization of the vascular system using postmortem angiography. KEY POINTSThere are no established guidelines for the interpretation of postmortem imaging examination of the heart At present, postmortem imaging methods are considered as less accurate than the autopsy for cardiac deaths Postmortem imaging is useful as a complementary tool for cardiac deaths There is still a need to validate postmortem imaging in cardiac deaths by comparing with autopsy findings ARTICLE HISTORY

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“…Fourteen individuals come from the chapter house, located in the east wing of the convent, 11 from the cloister galleries (3 from the northern and 8 southern galleries), 7 from the church choir, 1 from its adjoining chapel and 8 from the church nave. A lead cardiotaph was also found in a secondary position in the church choir with an inscription dated July 1584 [ 52 ]. The funeral recruitment for this phase presents a selection of individuals according to the age of death: 115 adults (of whom 74% are male and 26% female) and 22 children ( SI Text section Physical anthropology in S1 File ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The last battle of Anne of Brittany: Solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, biological anthropology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating)

et al. 2021

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Mass graves are usually key historical markers with strong incentive for archeological investigations. The identification of individuals buried in mass graves has long benefitted from traditional historical, archaeological, anthropological and paleopathological techniques. The addition of novel methods including genetic, genomic and isotopic geochemistry have renewed interest in solving unidentified mass graves. In this study, we demonstrate that the combined use of these techniques allows the identification of the individuals found in two Breton historical mass graves, where one method alone would not have revealed the importance of this discovery. The skeletons likely belong to soldiers from the two enemy armies who fought during a major event of Breton history: the siege of Rennes in 1491, which ended by the wedding of the Duchess of Brittany with the King of France and signaled the end of the independence of the region. Our study highlights the value of interdisciplinary approaches with a particular emphasis on increasingly accurate isotopic markers. The development of the sulfur isoscape and testing of the triple isotope geographic assignment are detailed in a companion paper [13].

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Old hearts for modern investigations: CT and MR for archaeological human hearts remains

Cited by 14 publications

References 26 publications

Procedures and Frequencies of Embalming and Heart Extractions in Modern Period in Brittany. Contribution to the Evolution of Ritual Funerary in Europe

Procedures and Frequencies of Embalming and Heart Extractions in Modern Period in Brittany. Contribution to the Evolution of Ritual Funerary in Europe

Postmortem imaging as a complementary tool for the investigation of cardiac death

The last battle of Anne of Brittany: Solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, biological anthropology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating)

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