A case of brachymetatarsia from medieval Sardinia (Italy).
Archaeological excavations carried out in the Medieval village of Geridu (Sardinia) uncovered several burials dating to the late 13th or the first half of 14th century. Among these individuals, the skeleton of an adult female showing a bilateral abnormal shortness of the fourth metatarsal bone was identified. Bilaterality and absence of other skeletal anomalies allow to rule out an acquired aetiology of the disease and to support a diagnosis of congenital brachymetatarsia. Such a rare deformity has a clinical incidence of 0.02% to 0.05%, with strong predominance of the female gender. To our knowledge, no other cases of brachymetatarsia have been reported in paleopathology so far.
Valentina
V
Giuffra
Division of Paleopathology Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via Roma 57, 56126, Pisa, Italy.
Giuffra
G
Valentina
Raffaella
R
Bianucci
Bianucci
B
Raffaella
Marco
M
Milanese
Eugenia
E
Tognotti
Tognotti
T
Eugenia
Andrea
A
Montella
Montella
M
Andrea
Davide
D
Caramella
Caramella
C
Davide
Gino
G
Fornaciari
Pasquale
P
Bandiera
Bandiera
B
Pasquale
D000328:Adult; D001106:Archaeology / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008682:Metatarsal Bones / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D011859:Radiography
Middle Ages; Sardinia; congenital diseases; shortened fourth metatarsal bone