Mergæxli í fornri beinagrind frá Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit

• Main Authors: Hildur Gestsdóttir, Guðmundur I Eyjólfsson
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Læknafélag Íslands, Læknafélag Reykjavíkur 2007
• Subjects: Fornleifafræði; Meinafræði; Sagnfræði; Líkamsmannfræði; LBL12; Fræðigreinar; Bone Neoplasms; Female; History; Medieval; Humans; Iceland; Middle Aged; Multiple Myeloma; Paleopathology; Smella
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2336/10595

Hægt er að lesa greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/Open Archaeological investigations have been ongoing in the cemetery at Hofstadir in Mývatnssveit since the summer of 1999. To date, the remains of two chapels as well as 78 skeletons have been excavated, dated to between the 11th and 15th century. A skeleton was excavated in the summer of 2003 which showed pathological changes indicative of a malignant disease. Palaeopathological cases of malignancies are very rare, and it is therefore important to report on each case. Skeleton HST-027 was a female, aged 45-50 years at the time of death. Standard osteological methods were used to determine the sex, age and stature. Macroscopic analysis was carried out on the skeleton and all pathological changes on each bone described. The cranium, ribs, left os coxa and all left long bones were then radiographed to aid in the diagnosis. The analysis showed lytic lesions in all the flat bones, as well as the vertebrae, ribs and the proximal end of the left femur, all changes indicative of multiple myeloma. Palaeopathologically myeloma and metastatic cancer (then usually due to breast cancer in the case of women) are often difficult to distinguish. However there is no new bone formation surrounding the lesions, which means that metastatic cancer is unlikely to be the cause. Skeleton HST-027 from Hofstadir is the first published case of malignant disease in Iceland, and one of the clearer cases of myeloma in an archaeological specimen, but to date, approximately twenty cases have been reported world-wide. Fornleifauppgröftur hefur staðið yfir í kirkjugarðinum á Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit frá því sumarið 1999. Nú þegar hafa leifar tveggja bænhúsa og 78 beinagrindur frá 11.-15. öld verið grafnar upp. Sumarið 2003 fannst beinagrind í kirkjugarðinum með meinafræðilegar breytingar sem bentu til illkynja meins. Slík fornleifafræðileg tilfelli eru mjög sjaldséð og þykir því vert að birta hvert einasta tilfelli. Beinagrindin sem um ræðir, HST-027, var úr konu sem ...