title: Magnetic resonance imaging for the study of mummies.
abstract: Nondestructive diagnostic imaging for mummies study has a long tradition and high-resolution images of the samples morphology have been extensively acquired by using computed tomography (CT). However, although in early reports no signal or image was obtained because of the low water content, mummy magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was demonstrated able to generate images of such ancient specimens by using fast imaging techniques. Literature demonstrated the general feasibility of nonclinical MRI for visualizing historic human tissues, which is particularly interesting for archeology. More recently, multinuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was demonstrated able to detect numerous organic biochemicals from such remains. Although the quality of these images is not yet comparable to that of clinical magnetic resonance (MR) images, and further research will be needed for determining the full capacity of MR in this topic, the information obtained with MR can be viewed as complementary to the one provided by CT and useful for paleoradiological studies of mummies. This work contains an overview of the state of art of the emerging uses of MRI in paleoradiology.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Council of Research, via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy. Electronic address: giovannetti@ifc.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giovannetti
authors.affiliation: Sezione Paleontologica GAPL (Gruppo Archeologico e Paleontologico Livornese), Museo di Storia Naturale del Mediterraneo, Via Roma, 234, 57127 Leghorn, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guerrini
authors.affiliation: Sezione Paleontologica GAPL (Gruppo Archeologico e Paleontologico Livornese), Museo di Storia Naturale del Mediterraneo, Via Roma, 234, 57127 Leghorn, Italy.
authors.forename: Emiliano
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carnieri
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Council of Research, via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Piero A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Salvadori
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D009106:Mummies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D010163:Paleontology
keywords: Magnetic resonance imaging; Multinuclear spectroscopy; Mummy; Paleoradiology