Egyptian Mummies Visit Hospital for CT Scan

"The museum people were a little bit amazed about that," Makaryus says. "The best part is we got all this information noninvasively. I think that's really one of the main points here—modern science meeting very old mummies and exploring them without actually having to cut them open."

But not only did these CT scans provide benefits for the museum's scientists, they also created a positive public relations opportunity for the hospital. The press coverage surrounding the mummies' medical procedure incidentally informed the public about the hospital's advanced technology, says Michelle Pinto, North Shore's director of media relations.

"Aside from the fact that we're very proud that we can offer our cardiac patients the 64 slice CAT scan, what we were proud about is that by bringing the mummies here we were able to treat them with the respect that ancient objects of art deserve," she says. "It was a great new way to use the great technology and it was a blending of art and science."

Makaryus says some curious acquaintances have even contacted him personally.

"I've had people call up and say we saw about the mummies and most people are very interested," he says. "We're using this new technology to scan very old mummies and actually learn something about them. There's definitely general interest about it."

Though the Brooklyn Museum has no immediate plans to scan any additional mummies, they may use these four mummies' CT scan images in an upcoming exhibit, Makaryus says.

"The old meeting the new, in terms of this modern day technology that we use on living human beings to actually assess mummies, really ties the whole juxtaposition of ancient mummies and modern day technology," he says.