Skeletal metastatic carcinomas from the Roman period (1st to 5th Century AD) in Hungary.

OBJECTIVES: According to paleopathological records, tumors have a great antiquity. The prevalence of cancer in ancient populations might have differed from that in modern humans because of substantial differences in environmental factors, life expectancy and the availability of treatment. This study presents 3 cases of probable skeletal metastatic carcinoma from the Roman period (1st-5th century AD) in Hungary, showing the development of bone metastases of cancer without chemo- and radiotherapy. METHODS: All skeletons were subjected to a careful macroscopic investigation, which was extended by radiological, stereo- and scanning electron microscopic analyses. RESULTS: In 1 case, the mixed nature and localization of the lesions, as well as the sex and age of the individual, suggested breast cancer as the primary focus. In the other 2 cases, based on the mostly osteoblastic nature and the localization of the lesions as well as on the sex and age of the individuals, the most probable diagnostic option is prostate carcinoma with skeletal metastases. CONCLUSIONS: In view of the scarcity of cancer metastases that have been diagnosed in archeological specimens in general, identification of all examples of cancer in antiquity represents an important contribution both to paleopathology and to modern medicine.

Obesity in the paleolithic era.

Photos and/or copies of one hundred Upper Paleolithic (45,000-40,000 to 10,000 BP) statues were studied, the photos having been taken from the frontal, lateral and back view. Among the 97 female idols studied, 24 were skinny (mainly young women), 15 were of normal weight, while more than half of them (51) represented overweight or very obese females whose breasts were also extremely large. The figurine analysis revealed various types of obesity. Increased fat tissue deposition can be seen in the following body parts: belly only in 2 Venus figurines, belly + hip in 10, belly + gluteal + hip in 14, belly + hip + gluteal + femora in 24 and diffuse obesity in one. Steatopygia (derived from the Greek "steato" meaning fat, and "pygia" meaning buttocks and describing excessive fat of the buttocks) was observable in 7 idols, although these females were not particularly overweight and had a reasonably thin waist and legs. Only seven statues were in the state of advanced gravidity (pregnancy). The presence of such a small number of gravidity statuettes challenges the general view concerning Venus idols, namely, that they all represent female fertility.

[The establishment of the hospital-system in the Byzantine Empire]. / A kórházi rendszer kialakulása a Bizánci Birodalomban.

Byzantine hospitals developed out of Christian institutions for the poor and homeless. Philanthropy provided the initial impulse to create hospices (xenons) and to expand these institutions into specialized medical centers (iatreons or nosokomeions). However the Byzantine nosocomeions resemble more closely modern hospitals than they do any of the institutions of Greek-Roman antiquity or any of the houses of charity in the Latin West during the Middle Ages. Since the 4th century the Byzantine hospitals have stressed the central position of the nosocomeion in Byzantine society at the intersection of state, ecclesiastical and professional interest. In the great cities and in the capital, more than hundred hospitals worked in the East-Roman Empire. The Byzantine hospital rules guaranted patients private beds, required physicians to wash their hands after each examination and arranged the physical plant to keep all the sick warm. The Byzantine hospitals had separate sections (in modern terms: surgery-trauma surgery, internal medicine, ophthalmology, etc.) and at the beginning of the sixth century a separate institution for women. From the sixth century at least, bathing facilities normally adjoined Byzantine nosocomeia. By the twelfth century Byzantine hospitals also set aside a room or perhaps a separate building to treat outpatients. In addition to the main dormitories the surgery, baths and outpatient clinic, the large parts of hospitals also had separate rooms (or adjoining buildings) for library, for lecture hall, for administrative functions and record keeping for storage and for other services.

Goiter depicted in Byzantine artworks.

Pathologies depicted in sacral works of western civilisation are widely known. However, in this regard, the very rich and important Byzantine art, and particularly sacral art, has been largely ignored. Research carried out on 500 artworks has disclosed 119 pictures revealing 36 different physiological conditions (gravidity, labour) or pathological conditions (goiter, joint diseases, palsy etc.). Goiter, most likely as a result of iodine deficiency, is portrayed in 42 individuals (6 females, 14 males, 4 children and 18 angels). However, although the Byzantine sacral artworks give evidence of many pathological conditions, the diagnosed pathologies cannot be considered representative of the general population.