SANTA ANA, CA.- On April 7, 2005 at 11 a.m. at the Bowers Museum, a team of radiologists and curators will conduct computed tomography (CT) scans of six ancient Egyptian mummies from the renowned collections of the British Museum. The mummies are the focus of the Bowers’ upcoming landmark exhibition, Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, which opens April 17, 2005.

This is the largest collection of CT scans ever performed on Egyptian mummies utilizing the newest, state of the art technology. This historic event, a first in Southern California, will occur in cooperation with the British Museum; Moran, Rowen & Dorsey, Inc. (MRD), a radiology group that provides cutting edge diagnostic medical imaging in Orange County; General Electric, a leading medical technology company; and Mobile Interim Solutions, an industry leader in boost diagnostic imaging capacity at medical facilities.

Whole body scans of the six mummies will be acquired and MRD Radiologists and British Museum curators will review and interpret the images to reveal findings about the ancient treasures. MRD Radiologists Daniel Weissberg, M.D., Chairman of the Board and Medical Director of Radiology for MRD, and M. Linda Sutherland, M.D., Fellow of the Bowers Museum and Member of the Board of Directors and Partner of MRD, will be present at the Bowers Museum for the CT scans, along with British Museum curators John Taylor and Nigel Strudwick, curators of Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt.

Advances in computed tomography (CT) imaging have enabled researchers to learn details about mummies never before available without destroying the priceless remains. CT scans and X-rays have been performed on mummies in the past, yet none have employed the advanced technology that will be utilized April 7 at the Bowers Museum. CT scanning and virtual reality imaging involves acquiring a number of cross-sectional images, or "slices" of the body, and feeding the images into a 3D workstation. Post-processing of the images by the 3D workstation will enable radiologists to gather specific information about the mummies.

The CT scans should reveal much more detail than ever before. Drs. Weissberg and Sutherland and curators Taylor and Strudwick hope to discover valuable information, including findings about the mummies' skulls, some of which may contain molten resin, an embalming fluid reserved only for a person of royal status. CT images of the mummies' chests and abdomens may reveal such discoveries as incisions and replacement of organs with tightly rolled linen packs, a mummification technique practiced 3,000 years ago in Egypt.

“We hope to provide advanced technological information that will help experts in the field learn more about the mummification process,” Dr. Weissberg said. “We also hope the scan of the pediatric mummy will provide enhanced knowledge of the children from ancient Egypt.”