PARIS: The diagnosis is more than 3,500 years late, but no less stunning for all of that. An Egyptian princess who lived between 1580 and 1550 BC has become the earliest person in human history to be diagnosed with coronary heart disease, according to computer scans presented at a medical conference this week. “We can't be sure what she died of, but we can see what illnesses she had,” Gregory Thomas, director of Nuclear Cardiology Education at the University of California at Irvine, said by phone. Researchers delved into the mummy of Princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon using a computerised tomography (CT) scanner, a non-invasive technique that gives highly detailed cross-sectional images of the body. The princess, who died in her 40s, had atherosclerosis, or a buildup of fatty material, in two of her three main coronary arteries, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) said in a press release. “Today she would have needed by-pass surgery,” said Thomas, who led the analysis.
