Superior vena cava syndrome and gynecomastia in antiquity: Paleodermatologic considerations on aging in the past.

We explore the antiquity of two well-known conditions often associated with advancing age, namely superior vena cava syndrome and gynecomastia, through the veristic sculptural representation dating back to the classical age. The statue of the Old Fisherman from the "Paolo Orsi" Regional Archaeological Museum of Syracuse, Italy, thanks to the extremely accurate rendering of the appearance of the cutaneous tissues, makes it possible to open a window to the antiquity and morphologic presentation of pathologic phenomena that would be difficult to infer solely from the human skeleton remains. The analysis of this statue also offers an opportunity to highlight the capacity of Hellenistic art in portraying human misery and illness.

Unilateral Facial Asymmetry in a 40 BCE Roman Carved Head.

ABSTRACT: We describe the peculiar facial morphology of a carved head dating to the end of the Roman Republican period (40 BCE) which displays evident unilateral asymmetry. A comprehensive discussion of the different etiologies is provided and a contextualization of this condition in the broader frame of Roman artistic verism is offered. This case study contributes to the knowledge of disease presentation in the ancient world, with a special focus on the anatomy of soft tissue pathology.

Paleopathological study of a podal osteochondroma from the prehistoric Hypogeum of Calaforno (Sicily).

In this article, we report a case of isolated podal osteochondroma from the prehistoric Hypogeum of Calaforno (Giarratana, Ragusa, Sicily). Although the phalanx exhibiting the benign tumoral mass comes from a context featuring several commingled remains, the very good state of preservation of this bone allowed us to perform a comprehensive study of the neoplasm by applying a multidisciplinary approach encompassing archeology, morphology, stereomicroscopy, and radiology. The results from this very ancient specimen have been assessed in the light of the available paleopathological literature and clinical implications currently encountered in modern patients.

The antiquity of hydrocephalus: the first full palaeo-neuropathological description.

The Pathology Museum of the University of Florence houses a rich collection of anatomical specimens and over a hundred waxworks portraying pathological conditions occurring in the nineteenth century, when the museum was established. Clinical and autopsy findings of these cases can still be retrieved from the original museum catalogue, offering a rare opportunity for retrospective palaeo-pathological diagnostics. We present a historical case of severe hydrocephalus backed by modern-day anthropological, radiological and molecular analyses conducted on the skeleton of an 18-month-old male infant deceased in 1831. Luigi Calamai (1796-1851), a wax craftsman of La Specola workshop in Florence, was commissioned to create a life-sized wax model of the child's head, neck and upper thorax. This artwork allows us to appreciate the cranial and facial alterations determined by 30 lb of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) accumulated within the cerebral ventricular system. Based on the autopsy report, gross malformations of the neural tube, tumours and haemorrhage could be excluded. A molecular approach proved helpful in confirming sex. We present this case as the so-far most compelling case of hydrocephalus in palaeo-pathological research.