Hyperostosis frontalis interna

A Nubian case

Bibliographic Data

ID8313192
AuthorsGeorge J Armelagos (University of Massachusetts Amherst), O Donald Chrisman (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Year1988
Volume76
Issue1
Pages25-28
Publication date1988-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.1330760103
PMID3044135
OpenAlexW2035627615
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited4

The aim of this article is to present evidence of hyperostosis frontalis interna in a 40‐year‐old female recovered from a Meroitic cemetery (ca. 300 A.D.) in Sudanese Nubia. A review of the literature concerning the Morgagni‐Stewart‐Morel (MSM) syndrome suggests that the changes in the skull fragment are consistent with this diagnosis. This case is the earliest example of the condition so far reported, and therefore, in archaeological time and space, this is a disease not only of modern civilization, but also of antiquity. Current endocrinological reports suggest that the hyperostosis is the hallmark of a generalized disorder of bone metabolism, with increased androgens, prolactin, and somatotropins. Hyperostosis frontalis interna is the central feature of a syndrome first described over 200 years ago by the early pathologist Giovanni Batistta Morgagni, professor of anatomy at Padua (1719). He found thickening of the internal tables of the frontal bones in association with virilism and obesity. Stewart (1928) and Morel (1929) independently added several neuropsychiatric problems to this complex and questioned the possibility of an endocrine basis for the syndrome

Frontal bone · Hyperostosis · Skeleton (computer programming) · Skull · Anatomy · Bone health and treatments · Child Abuse and Related Trauma · Medicine · Osteomyelitis and Bone Disorders Research

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