400-Year-Old Heart, Oldest Evidence Of Heart Disease

Researchers have identified five 400-year-old embalmed hearts, which are revealing the some of the earliest evidences of heart conditions and diseases. Archaeologists with the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research made the discovery after they unearthed the ruins of a convent in the French city of Rennes.

At the burial site, the researchers found five heart-shaped lead urns and inside each urn there was a preserved human heart, according to a news release. The human remains at the site belonged to elite-class French families from the 16th and 17th century.

The researchers used CT and MRI scanning to gather clinical images of the preserved hearts.

"We needed to take necessary precautions to conduct the research carefully in order to get all possible information," Fatima-Zohra Mokrane, lead author of the study and radiologist from the University Hospital of Toulouse, said in a news release.

The researchers were able to identify the various structures of the hearts, such as the valves, chambers and coronary arteries. By using various techniques, the researchers were able to examine tissues from the hearts. Three of the hearts showed signs of diseases, plaque was found on the coronary arteries and one of the hearts was quite "hearty" and showed no signs of diseases. However, the fifth heart was poorly preserved, thus the researchers could not examine it.

"Since four of the five hearts were very well preserved, we were able to see signs of present-day heart conditions, such as plaque and atherosclerosis," Mokrane said.

The researchers also later discovered the heart of a male, where the urn had an inscription 'Toussaint Perrien, Knight of Brefeillac.' When the male subject died his heart was removed and later buried with his wife, Louise de Quengo, Lady of Brefeillac, whose body was found at the site.

"It was common during that time period to be buried with the heart of a husband or wife," Mokrane said. "This was the case with one of our hearts. It's a very romantic aspect to the burials."

The findings of this study were presented at the RSNA 2015 101st Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting.

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