Today, the Greek
term carcinoma is the medical term for a malignant tumor derived
from epithelial cells. It is Celsus who translated carcinos into
the Latin cancer, also meaning crab. Galen used "oncos" to
describe all tumours, the root for the modern word oncology.
Hippocrates described several kinds of cancers. He called benign
tumours oncos, Greek for swelling, and malignant tumours
carcinos, Greek for crab or crayfish. This name probably comes
from the appearance of the cut surface of a solid malignant
tumour, with a roundish hard center surrounded by pointy
projections, vaguely resembling the shape of a crab (see
picture). He later added the suffix -oma, Greek for swelling,
giving the name carcinoma. Since it was against Greek tradition
to open the body, Hippocrates only described and made drawings
of outwardly visible tumors on the skin, nose, and breasts.
Treatment was based on the humor theory of four bodily fluids
(black and yellow bile, blood, and phlegm). According to the
patient's humor, treatment consisted of diet, blood-letting,
and/or laxatives. Through the centuries it was discovered that
cancer could occur anywhere in the body, but humor-theory based
treatment remained popular until the 19th century with the
discovery of cells.
The first known surgical treatment for cancer was described in
the 1020s by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) in The Canon of Medicine. He
stated that the excision should be radical and that all diseased
tissue should be removed, which included the use of amputation
or the removal of veins running in the direction of the tumor.
He also recommended the use of cauterization for the area being
treated if necessary.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, it became more acceptable for
doctors to dissect bodies to discover the cause of death. The
German professor Wilhelm Fabry believed that breast cancer was
caused by a milk clot in a mammary duct. The Dutch professor
Francois de la Boe Sylvius, a follower of Descartes, believed
that all disease was the outcome of chemical processes, and that
acidic lymph fluid was the cause of cancer. His contemporary
Nicolaes Tulp believed that cancer was a poison that slowly
spreads, and concluded that it was contagious.
With the widespread use of the microscope in the 18th century,
it was discovered that the 'cancer poison' spread from the
primary tumor through the lymph nodes to other sites
("metastasis"). This view of the disease was first formulated by
the English surgeon Campbell De Morgan between 1871 and 1874.
The use of surgery to treat cancer had poor results due to
problems with hygiene. The renowned Scottish surgeon Alexander
Monro saw only 2 breast tumor patients out of 60 surviving
surgery for two years. In the 19th century, asepsis improved
surgical hygiene and as the survival statistics went up,
surgical removal of the tumor became the primary treatment for
cancer. With the exception of William Coley who in the late
1800s felt that the rate of cure after surgery had been higher
before asepsis (and who injected bacteria into tumors with mixed
results), cancer treatment became dependent on the individual
art of the surgeon at removing a tumor. During the same period,
the idea that the body was made up of various tissues, that in
turn were made up of millions of cells, laid rest the
humor-theories about chemical imbalances in the body. The age of
cellular pathology was born.
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 came also 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.
Cancer patient treatment and studies were restricted to
individual physicians' practices until World War II, when
medical research centers discovered that there were large
international differences in disease incidence. This insight
drove national public health bodies to make it possible to
compile health data across practises and hospitals, a process
that many countries do today. The Japanese medical community
observed that the bone marrow of bomb victims in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki was completely destroyed. They concluded that diseased
bone marrow could also be destroyed with radiation, and this led
to the discovery of bone marrow transplants for leukemia. Since
WWII, trends in cancer treatment are to improve on a micro-level
the existing treatment methods, standardize them, and globalize
them as a way to find cures through epidemiology and
international partnerships.
Research >>
|
Cancer
Classification
1. Nomenclature
2. Adult cancers
3. Childhood cancers
Signs and symptoms
Diagnosis
1. Investigation
2. Biopsy
Treatment
1. Surgery
2. Radiation therapy
3. Chemotherapy
4. Targeted therapies
5. Immunotherapy
6. Hormonal therapy
7. Symptom control
8. Complementary and alternative
9. Treatment trials
Prognosis
1. Emotional impact
Causes
1. Chemical carcinogens
2. Ionizing radiation &
Infectious diseases
3. Hormonal imbalances
& Immune system dysfunction
4. Heredity & Other causes
Pathophysiology
1. Epigenetics
2. Oncogenes
3. Tumor suppressor genes
4. Cancer cell biology
4.1 Clonal evolution
4.2 Biological properties of cancer cells
Prevention
1. Modifiable ("lifestyle") risk factors
2. Diet
3. Vitamins
4. Chemoprevention
5. Genetic testing
6. Vaccination
7. Screening
Epidemiology
History
Research |
