What do you get when you subject a mummy to a CT scan?

The patients were old – more than 2,200 years old. But the medical experts were determined to give them a cutting-edge, 21st-century test.

First was Nes-Hor, a priest in the Temple of Min who lived around 190 BC. He died in 200 BC and his body was wrapped in a linen cloth that had turned black over the centuries. Then came Nes-Min, about 330 B.C. BC, who was draped in a net robe with strands of glowing beads.

Researchers at the University of Southern California recently used medical-grade, high-resolution CT scanners and 3D printers to perform virtual autopsies on the two Egyptian mummies. Her goal, as with every patient, was to clarify complaints and injuries.

The scanner captured 320 different cross-sectional images of the mummies per rotation, slices stacked “like a loaf of bread” into 3D digital models, said Summer Decker, the director of the university’s Center for Innovation in Medical Visualization, who oversaw the project. From there, her team analyzed the mummies’ various anatomical structures and used 3D printers to create life-size reproductions of their spines, skulls and hips.

Radiology is a rapidly evolving field, and “as technology advances, you have to look back and ask what you can learn from the new tools,” said Dr. Decker. Because of the high resolution – the slices were less than half a millimeter thick – the team was able to find artifacts and details that were new or even contradicted previous reports.

For example, researchers had previously found that Nes-Min, who they believe was in his 40s, had broken bones along his right ribcage that had all healed, suggesting he had survived a traumatic fall or attack earlier in his life. They also believed he was suffering from chronic lower back pain because his lumbar vertebra had collapsed. Dr. Decker and James Schanandore, a human anatomist who studies prehistoric remains, discovered possible drill holes in the spine, which suggested to them that he had most likely undergone back surgery similar to trephination, which was almost unheard of at the time.

“It’s interesting to see some of the same diseases that our modern population has,” said Dr. Decker.

Previous reports had also suggested that Nes-Min likely died of a tooth abscess, but the new high-resolution models showed no evidence of anything serious that would be fatal.

The scans of Nes-Hor, who lived to be about 60, revealed the intricate details of a severely compromised hip that researchers believe would have caused a severe limp.

“If people can get beneath the surface of these mummies – they can see the source of the back or hip pain – they can see them not as exotic artifacts but as people,” said Diane Perlov, an anthropologist and exhibition director at the California Science Center, where the mummies and their casts will be on display starting February 7. “It’s really an emotional experience.”

Medical 3D printers are the same technology that surgeons use to convert MRI and CT scans into physical models that they can practice on to better imagine the size of a patient’s tumor or a malfunction in a patient’s cardiac pathways. Doctors also sometimes use the casts to help patients better understand their own medical conditions and treatment plans by allowing them to hold an exact replica of their own organ.

In the case of the mummies, Dr. Decker and her colleague Jonathan Ford also created replicas of artifacts that were in the sarcophagus, including ceremonial scarab beetles and clamps that may have held the mummy shell in place, similar to the metal clasp used to secure an ACE bandage today. With these artifact replicas, which can be printed in five million color options, scientists can handle them without unpacking the mummies and risking damage.

What surprised Dr. Perlov, however, captures the lifelike details of the soft tissues and facial features, including the eyeballs, eyelids, ears and lips. “It’s incredible,” she said as she reviewed the scans.

“What we’re trying to do,” said Dr. Decker, “is to get beneath the layers of all that packaging and find out that this was a living person who had their own problems.”