De directione et proiectione radiorum et aspectuum

jeudi 20 septembre 2018

Mary Tudor

(18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. She is best known for her aggressive attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, Henry VIII. The executions that marked her pursuit of the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and Ireland led to her denunciation as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents.

introduction

Read now this extract from a medical journal :

[...] Let us summarize the facts available about the illness of Mary Tudor :

(1)    Paternal deprivation in childhood, adolescence and early adult life.
(2)    From the age of 19 (and perhaps earlier) she had periods of amenorrhea.
(3)    She complained of ‘racking headaches’.
(4)    She had attacks of palpitation.
(5)    She suffered from recurrent indigestion.
(6)    Her vision was impaired. This was assumed to be shortsightedness, but at the age of 42 it had become so bad that she could hardly see anything and written material had to be brought very close to her eyes or - more often -simply read to her.
(7)    During her two periods of assumed pregnancy, she had, in addition to amenorrhea, swelling of the abdomen, morning sickness, swelling of her paps and milk secretion. Her headaches, her depression and her vision grew worse.
(8)    She died at the age of 42.

If we put the symptoms and signs of an ovarian tumour, of phantom pregnancy and of prolactinoma side by side, it seems to me that Mary Tudor must have suffered from a prolactinoma. Her death occurred at a progressive stage of that condition, in a person weakened by chronic anaemia due to continuous ‘therapeutic’ bloodletting, and a feverish illness -perhaps influenza. There were also some signs of hypothyroidism: loes of eyebrows, loss of hair, dry skin and stuporous confusion; this is not uncommon if pituitary tumours are very large.

In pseudocyesis we may find amenorrhoea, an increase in weight and girth and even galactorrhoea, but no severe headache and no impairment of vision. Moreover, in most cases the women are contented and happy, and the condition is not fatal.

In polycystic ovary syndrome, one would expect menstrual chaos leading to amenorrhea, some increase in weight and - in a majority of patients -hirsutism and other signs of virilism, plus occasionally galactorrhoea, but no serious headache nor impairment of vision.

Mary Tudor’s history is not merely important from a medical point of view. Had she lived today, a diagnosis could have been made and various methods of treatment would have been available.
[...]

In those days, there were no supporting biochemical assays, CAT scans or X-rays. Now, the only way that proof of the above theory could be obtained would be to have Queen Mary’s coffin opened and her skull X-rayed. The coffin still rests in the Henry VII chapel at Westminster Abbey, just beneath the coffin of Elizabeth I, her half sister. It was last inspected by Dean Stanley, about 100 years ago. I have not had the temerity to submit such a request to Her Majesty, an I must, therefore, leave the matter unresolved.

[The illness and death of Mary Tudor. V C Medvei, Journal of the royal society of Medicine, 80, 1987, 766-770]