Cutting-edge ancient medicine: new technology reveals Egyptian surgical practices. From the article:

Egypt is well-known for its medical knowledge and treatment modalities from both bioarchaeological and historical written sources…. However, the medical recognition in ancient Egyptian medicine of what we nowadays call malignancy is uncertain, despite the description and mention of tumours, swellings, “eating” lesions and potential matching diagnosis and treatments. Thus, ancient Egyptian Medicine cultivated one of the most advanced medical knowledge bases in Antiquity, and still cancer represented a clear medical frontier concerning diagnosis and treatment.

Here, we report two cases of ancient Egyptian skulls from different dynasties that allow tracing the boundaries of medical knowledge and treatment in the past. Both human remains are held at the Duckworth Laboratory (University of Cambridge, UK): Skull E270 (Late Period, 664–343 BCE) evidences a primary neoplasm and several healed cranial fractures, these last lesions showcasing the capacity of ancient Egyptian medicine to manage severe skull trauma; and Skull 236 (Old Kingdom, 2,687–2,345 BCE) reveals a primary and secondary neoplasms, actually one of the oldest known cases of malignancy from ancient Egypt…. Our analysis also revealed perimortem cutmarks associated with several metastatic lesions. We argue that such modifications may be related with a perimortem surgical treatment attempt or a postmortem medical exploration, raising critical questions about the early understanding and management of oncological disorders in the history of medicine….

The microscopic observation was conducted using a HIROX Digital Microscope HR-2016. The microscope represented an advancement in the characterization of the osteoblastic and osteolytic lesions for a correct diagnosis. In addition, the microscope helped the distinction between taphonomic and pathological damages, and allowed the precise measurement of all the visible lesions on the skulls. In this sense, the evaluation of the microscopic results (along with the pathological analysis) shaped the preliminary description of the bony changes and differential diagnosis of the conditions suffered….

Additionally, our microscopic approach revealed the presence of clear linear small perimortem cutmarks in association with the small rounded lytic lesions (secondary tumours). These anthropogenic marks are located in clear superposition of two lesions on the posterior zone of skull 236, and are described as V-shaped parallel linear marks with internal microstriation conforming groups defining the same direction in different parts of the lesions.

For other posts on the history of medicine, see here.