Cancer Paradigms

What IS Cancer?

Cancer has been recognized as a disease since the time of the ancient Egyptians. Ancient manuscripts from the seventeenth century BC describe a “bulging mass in the breast” — believed to be the first description of breast cancer. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing around 440 BC describes Atossa, the queen of Persia who suffered from an illness likely to be inflammatory breast cancer. In a thousand year old gravesite in Peru, mummified remains show a bone tumor. So cancer dates back to antiquity, but it was likely very rare, given the shorter life expectancy of the time. But the cause was unknown, mostly blamed on bad gods.

Centuries later, the Greek father of medicine Hippocrates (ca 460 BC — ca 370 BC) described several types of cancer using the word karkinos meaning crab. This is a surprising accurate description of cancer. Examined microscopically cancer extends multiple spicules out of the main cell and grabs tenaciously to adjacent tissues.

In the second century AD, the Greek physician Galen used the term oncos (swelling) since cancers could often be detected as hard nodules under the skin, in the breast, etc. It is from this root that oncology, oncologist, and oncologic are all derived. Galen also used the suffix -oma to denote a cancer. Celsus (ca 25 BC — ca 50 AD) a Roman encyclopaedist who wrote the medical text De Medicina, translated the Greek term ‘karkinos’ into ‘cancer’, the Latin word for crab.