Poor King Tut. CT images of his body indicate that he may have died of a broken leg. When his body was x-rayed in 1968 results showed he had a broken skull so scientists of the time believed he died a violent death. As imaging became more advanced scientists decided to CT his body. One advantage of this method was the entire body could be imaged without having to move it. 1,700 images were acquired using CT in 2006 (see reconstructed image on left). The CT results indicated no skull trauma but did show skull damage most likely due to the mummification process. This CT image of King Tut’s left knee indicates a distal femur fracture. The arrow points to dense embalming material around the fracture which indicates that it occurred shortly before his death. Numerous other smaller leg fractures were also found, leading scientists to theorize that the King broke his leg badly shortly before his death. Because the fracture was open it became infected and killed him. The addition of DNA testing to the CT results (published in 2010) revealed that King Tut’s parents were most likely sister and brother. In addition to being the product of siblings, King Tut also had bone disease and malaria, both which would have further weakened his immune system so he was unable to fight off the infection caused by his broken leg. King Tut also had club feet and a cleft palate. The club feet would have explained the presence of the 130 walking canes in his tomb. I thought this was an interesting knee pathology for the week – certainly something different! It shows how current imaging technology in combination with other modern tests can help to solve mysteries of the past.
Source and Image:
Hayes, J. (2006). King Tut’s death official: broken leg. Accessed April 16, 2010 at Cosmos online, at http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/882/king-tuts-death-official-broken-leg
Discovery Channel. Discovery News. Accessed April 16, 2010 at http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050307/gallery/tutscan_zoom.jpg
Hasan, L. & Phend, C. (2010). How King Tut Died Revealed in New Study. ABC News Feb 16. Accessed April 16, 2010 at http://abcnews.go.com/Health/LivingLonger/king-tut-died-revealed-study/story?id=9853119&page=1
