Bones: Orthopaedic Pathologies in Roman Imperial Age

By: Andrea Piccioli and Valentina Gazzaniga and Paola Catalano

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Synopsis: This book presents the results of a unique macroscopic and radiological analysis, by X-ray and CT scan, of the bone pathologies of about 1800 subjects who lived at the time of the Roman Empire (first and second centuries A. D. ) and whose remains were recovered during the excavation of a suburban necropolis of Rome. The survey, which represents a collaboration between the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology and the Special Superintendent for the Archaeological Heritage of Rome, has yielded incredible images of different orthopaedic diseases in a period when no surgical treatment was available: there are cases of infection (osteomyelitis), metabolic disease (gout), hematologic disease (multiple myeloma), traumatic lesions and their complications and degenerative pathology (osteoarthritis, particularly secondary and overload). A multidisciplinary team including orthopaedists, paleopathologists, radiologists and medical historians has evaluated the major groups of bone disease in the population finding out incredible cases and picture of ortho-traumatologic pathologies in a pre-surgical era. The homogeneity of the sample and the number of subjects make this a study of fundamental importance.