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Updated: Oct 21, 2025
Modified Posterior Vertebral Column Resection for Patients with Thoracolumbar Kyphotic Deformity
Published on: September 16, 2022
Congenital kyphosis due to a body agenesis from Ancient Egypt
Albert Isidro1, Ivan Diez-Santacoloma2, Sergio Loscos2
1Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery Department, Hospital Universitari Sagrat Cor, Viladomat 288, 08029, Barcelona, Spain. aisidro.cot@gmail.com.
Abstract:
In Paleopathology, total lack of a vertebral body is a rare finding, mostly due to infectious diseases or tumors. We report the case of an adult male from the necropolis next to "Temple of the Millions of Years" of Thutmose III dated to the Late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period (2345-2055 BCE). He showed a fracture of T12, more than 50%, associated with the complete disappearance of the body of L1 and bilateral transverse process. Infection and tumor involvement were ruled out due to the morphology of the spinal segment. The most likely diagnosis was complete body agenesis. Congenital kyphosis related to vertebral agenesis has been described as a possibility in paleopathology, but it had not been reported until now.
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