How cancer was first discovered and treated.
Believe it or not, cancer has affected people for several centuries. It is not anew disease. It is because of the early technology, research that we hold a greater knowledge of cancer today.
Origin of the word cancer
The word cancer came from the father of medicine, Hippocrates, a Greek physician. Hippicrates used the Greek words, carcinoma and carcinoma to describe tumours thus calling cancer karkinos.
The Greek terms actually were words to describe a crab, which Hippocrates thought a tumor resembled. Although Hippocrates may have named cancer, he was certainly not the first to discover disease. The history of cancer actually begins much earlier.
The first documented case of cancer
The irks older document case of cancer hails from ancient Egypt, in 1500 BCE. The details were recorded on a papyrus, documenting 8 cases of tumors occurring on the breast.
It was treated by cauterization, a method to destroy tissue with a hot instrument called a fire drill. It was also recorded that there was no treatment for the disease, only palliative treatment.
There is evidence that the ancient Egyptians were able to tell the difference between malignant and benign tumors. According to inscriptions, surface tumors were surgically removed in a similar manner as they are removed today.
Whatever the early physicians thought caused cancer.
Today, we know so much about the human body; however early Greek physicians weren’t so fortunate. Hippocrates believed that the body was composed of four fluids:blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. He believed that an excess of black bile in any given site in the body caused cancer.
This was the general thought of the cause of cancer for the next 1400years.
In ancient Egypt, it was believed that cancer was caused by the gods.
The birth of the pathological Autopsy
Autopsies done by Harvey in 1628 paved the way to learning more about human anatomy and physiology. Blood circulation was discovered opening the doors for more research on diseases. It wasn’t until 1761 that autopsies were performed to research cause of death of ill patients. Giovanni Morgan is of padua was the first to do such autopsies.
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