History Of Cancer

The History of Cancer

What is cancer?
Cancer develops when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Even though there are many kinds of cancer, they all start because of abnormal cells that grow out of control.
Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person's life, normal cells divide more rapidly until the person becomesan adult. After that, cells in most parts of the body divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells and to repair injuries.
Because cancer cells continue to grow and divide, they are different from normal cells. Instead of dying, they outlive normal cells and continue to form new abnormal cells.
Cancer cells often travel to other parts of the body where they begin to grow and replace normaltissue. This process, called metastasis, occurs as the cancer cells get into the bloodstream or lymph vessels of our body. When cells from a cancer like breast cancer spread to another organ like the liver, the cancer is still called breast cancer, not liver cancer.
Cancer cells develop because of damage to DNA. This substance is in every cell and directs all its activities. Most of the timewhen DNA becomes damaged the body is able to repair it. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired. People can inherit damaged DNA, which accounts for inherited cancers. Many times though, a person’s DNA becomes damaged by exposure to something in the environment, like smoking.
Cancer usually forms as a solid tumor. Some cancers, like leukemia, do not form tumors. Instead, these cancer cellsinvolve the blood and blood-forming organs and circulate through other tissues where they grow.
Not all tumors are cancerous. Benign (non-cancerous) tumors do not spread to other parts of the body (metastasize) and, with very rare exceptions, are not life threatening.
Different types of cancer can behave very differently. For example, lung cancer and breast cancer are very different diseases.They grow at different rates and respond to different treatments. That is why people with cancer need treatment that is aimed at their particular kind of cancer.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Half of all men and one-third of all women in the United States will develop cancer during their lifetimes. Today, millions of people are living with cancer or have hadcancer. The risk of developing most types of cancer can be reduced by changes in a person's lifestyle, for example, by quitting smoking and eating a better diet. The sooner a cancer is found and treatment begins, the better are the chances for living for many years.
Oldest descriptions of cancer
Cancer has afflicted humans throughout recorded history. It is no surprise that from the dawn ofhistory people have written about cancer. Some of the earliest evidence of cancer is found among fossilized bone tumors, human mummies in ancient Egypt, and ancient manuscripts. Bone remains of mummies have revealed growths suggestive of the bone cancer, osteosarcoma. In other cases, bony skull destruction as seen in cancer of the head and neck has been found.
Our oldest description of cancer(although the term cancer was not used) was discovered in Egypt and dates back to approximately 1600 B.C. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, or writing, describes 8 cases of tumors or ulcers of the breast that were treated by cauterization, with a tool called "the fire drill." The writing says about the disease, "There is no treatment."
Origin of the word cancer
The origin of the word cancer is credited tothe Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.), considered the "Father of Medicine." Hippocrates used the terms carcinos and carcinoma to describe non-ulcer forming and ulcer-forming tumors. In Greek these words refer to a crab, most likely applied to the disease because the finger-like spreading projections from a cancer called to mind the shape of a crab. The Roman physician, Celsus (28-50...