History of cancer
The history of cancer describes the development of the field of oncology and its role in the history of medicine.
Early diagnosis
The earliest known descriptions of cancer appear in several papyri from ancient Egypt. The
Hippocrates (c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) described several kinds of cancer, referring to them by the term καρκινος (carcinos), the Greek word for 'crab' or 'crayfish', as well as carcinoma.[3] This comes from the appearance of the cut surface of a solid malignant tumour, with "the veins stretched on all sides as the animal the crab has its feet, whence it derives its name".[4] Since it was against Greek tradition to open the body, Hippocrates only described and made drawings of outwardly visible tumours on the skin, nose, and breasts. Treatment was based on the humour theory of four bodily fluids (black and yellow bile, blood, and phlegm). According to the patient's humour, treatment consisted of diet, blood-letting, and/or laxatives. Celsus (c. 25 BC – 50 AD) translated carcinos into cancer, the Latin word for crab or crayfish.
In the 2nd century AD, the Greek physician Galen used oncos (Greek for 'swelling') to describe all tumours, reserving Hippocrates' term carcinos for malignant tumours. Galen also used the suffix -oma to indicate cancerous lesions. It is from Galen's usage that we derive the modern word oncology.[5]
Through the centuries it was discovered that cancer could occur anywhere in the body, but Hippocrates' humour-theory-based treatment remained popular until the 19th century.
16th–19th century
In the 16th and 17th centuries, it became more acceptable for doctors to
The first cause of cancer was identified by British surgeon Percivall Pott, who discovered in 1775 that cancer of the scrotum was a common disease among chimney sweeps{{ Citation needed }}. The work of other individual physicians led to various insights, but when physicians started working together they could draw firmer conclusions.
With the widespread use of the microscope in the 18th century, it was discovered that the 'cancer poison' eventually spreads from the primary tumour through the lymph nodes to other sites ("
Mechanism
The genetic basis of cancer was recognised in 1902 by the German zoologist Theodor Boveri, professor of zoology at Munich and later in Würzburg.[9] [10]He discovered a method to generate cells with multiple copies of the centrosome, a structure he discovered and named. He postulated that chromosomes were distinct and transmitted different inheritance factors. He suggested that mutations of the chromosomes could generate a cell with unlimited growth potential which could be passed on to its descendants. He proposed the existence of cell cycle checkpoints, tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes. He speculated that cancers might be caused or promoted by radiation, physical or chemical injuries, or by pathogenic microorganisms.
Therapies
When Marie Curie and Pierre Curie discovered radiation at the end of the 19th century, they stumbled upon the first effective non-surgical cancer treatment. With radiation also came the first signs of multi-disciplinary approaches to cancer treatment. The surgeon was no longer operating in isolation but worked together with hospital radiologists to help patients. The complications in communication this brought, along with the necessity of the patient's treatment in a hospital facility rather than at home, also created a parallel process of compiling patient data into hospital files, which in turn led to the first statistical patient studies.
The American Cancer Society was founded in 1913 by 15 physicians and businessmen in New York City under the name American Society for the Control of Cancer (ASCC). The current name was adopted in 1945.[11]
A founding paper of cancer epidemiology was the work of
Cancer patient treatment and studies were restricted to individual physicians' practices until World War II when medical research centres discovered that there were large international differences in disease incidence. This insight drove national public health bodies to enable the compilation of health data across practices and hospitals, a process found in many countries today. The Japanese medical community observed that the bone marrow of victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was completely destroyed. They concluded that diseased bone marrow could also be destroyed with radiation, and this led to the development of bone marrow transplants for leukemia. Since World War II, trends in cancer treatment are to improve on a micro-level the existing treatment methods, standardize them, and globalize them to find cures through epidemiology and international partnerships.
In 1968
War on Cancer
The political 'war' on cancer began with the
In 1973, cancer research led to a
In 1984,
Since 1971 the United States has invested over $200 billion on cancer research; that total includes money invested by public and private sectors and foundations.[17]
Despite this substantial investment, the country has seen just a five percent decrease in the cancer death rate (adjusting for size and age of the population) between 1950 and 2005.[18] Longer life expectancy may be a contributing factor to this, as cancer rates and mortality rates increase significantly with age, more than three out of five cancers are diagnosed in people aged 65 and over.[19]
See also
- Cancer, a 2015 documentary film
References
- ^ "The History of Cancer". American Cancer Society. 2009. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Scientists suggest that cancer is man-made". www.manchester.ac.uk. University of Manchester.
- ^ "The History of Cancer. Institut Jules Bordet (Association Hospitalière de Bruxelles - Centre des Tumeurs de ULB). Retrieved 2010-11-19". Bordet.be. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ Moss RW (2004). "Galen on Cancer". CancerDecisions. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
- PMID 15341975.
- ^
ISBN 0-679-43459-3
- ^ Skuse, Alanna (2015), "'It Is, Say Some, of a Ravenous Nature': Zoomorphic Images of Cancer", Constructions of Cancer in Early Modern England: Ravenous Natures [Internet], Palgrave Macmillan, retrieved 12 August 2023
- PMID 12042378.
- ^
Boveri T (January 2008). "Concerning the origin of malignant tumours by Theodor Boveri. Translated and annotated by Henry Harris". Journal of Cell Science. 121 Suppl 1 (Supplement 1): 1–84. S2CID 9033401.
- ^ Boveri, Theodor (1902). "Über mehrpolige Mitosen als Mittel zur Analyse des Zellkerns". Verh Phys Med Gesellschaft Würzburg (in German). 35: 67–90.
- ^ "Our History". American Cancer Society. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- PMID 14107961.
- ^ "Milestone (1971): National Cancer Act of 1971". Developmental Therapeutics Program Timeline. National Cancer Institute. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
- ^ "National Cancer Act, Legislative History". Office of Government and Congressional Relations. National Cancer Institute. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
- ISBN 978-0-88706-099-1.
- ^ "Harald zur Hausen - Autobiography". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
- ^ Begley S (16 September 2008). "Rethinking the War on Cancer". Newsweek. Retrieved 8 September 2008.
- ^ Kolata G (23 April 2009). "Advances Elusive in the Drive to Cure Cancer". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
- ^ "Cancer incidence by age". Cancer Research UK. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
19. Odes EJ, Randolph-Quinney PS, Steyn M, Throckmorton Z, Smilg JS, Zipfel B, et al. (2016). "Earliest hominin cancer: 1.7-million-year-old osteosarcoma from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa". South African Journal of Science. 112 (7/8): 5. doi:10.17159/sajs.2016/20150471. ISSN 1996-7489. Archived from the original on 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
Further reading
- DeVita VT, Rosenberg SA (June 2012). "Two Hundred Years of Cancer Research". The New England Journal of Medicine. 366 (23): 2207–2214. PMID 22646510.
- Mukherjee S (2010). The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-1-4391-0795-9.