Institution: | aDepartment of Diagnostic Radiology, Dankook University College of Medicine, San 29, Anseo Dong, Chonan, Republic of Korea bDepartment of Anatomy, Dankook University College of Medicine, San 29, Anseo Dong, Chonan, Republic of Korea cSeok Ju Sun Memorial Museum, Dankook University, Seoul, Republic of Korea dDepartment of Anatomy, Catholic University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea eDepartment of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea fDepartment of Cosmetology, Hanseo University, Seosan 356-706, Republic of Korea gJinju National Museum, Jinju, Republic of Korea hDepartment of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, Seoul, Republic of Korea iDepartment of Anatomy, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Yongon-Dong 28, Seoul 110-799, Republic of Korea |
Abstract: | Recently reported studies on the medieval mummies in Korea have been regarded as an invaluable source for studying the physical characteristics of medieval Koreans. However, since the reported medieval mummies were re-buried by their descendants without any scientific investigations, the development of a brief, non-invasive investigation technique was desperately needed among the researchers in Korea. In this regard, we tried to apply high-quality multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) with three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions and multi-planar reformat (MPR) to investigate Korean mummies. In our study, after 1.25 or 2.5 mm thin slice axial images were taken, 3D reconstruction and MPR were performed to get more accurate information about internal organs. In this trial, we successfully showed high-quality images for the brain, muscles, bones, heart and liver. During various trials for getting selected organs, we could make the 3D reconstructed images of them. Since we could show that the current MDCT technique could be useful for obtaining high-quality 3D reconstructed images of the internal organs of Korean mummies, this technique will be used in forthcoming similar cases, which could not be investigated using invasive techniques. |