Paleopathological find of a sacral neurilemmoma from ancient Egypt.

A large, smooth-walled cavity molded from the pressure of a relatively hard, globular, and lobulated tissue mass was found inside the sacrum of the mature female, Imakhetkherresnet. She was the sister of the lector-priest Iufaa, whose unmolested tomb dates to the late 26th Dynasty (prior to 625 BC). The origin of the lesion could be determined unambiguously by macroscopic, radiographic, and histological analysis. It was caused by a neurilemmoma (schwannoma, neurinoma), a benign tumor originating in a nerve sheath. This is the first description in the paleopathological literature of this kind of tumor occurring in the sacrum. 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.