Did people get cancer in the Middle Ages and ancient times?

[raccoon]

I realize most people didn't live that long then. But is there evidence of cancer from mummies, skeletons, etc.?

[LynneSin]

1. Queen Mary died of cancer (she was queen before Queen Elizabeth)

I think it existed but not as prevelant

[ulysses]

2. I believe dinosaurs did.

Rates were probably lower when people died younger of other things, but yes, cancer has been around for a very long time.

[glowing]

3. Yes, but not at the current levels we face today..

We have way to many toxins and pollutants today.. Its hard to combat all of these things....Also, many culures had "medicine" that would help... sometimes though, there is nothing that can be done. Sometimes people die.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. They died from cancer, provided that they weren't burnt at the stake when their tumors were

confused with the Mark of the Devil.

[hlthe2b]

5. Yes... but again because the latency for most cancer

(time before it appears) is many decades, the survivor effect masks its tue prevalence. In more basic terms, people didn't live long enough for it to manifest. But yes, there is historical evidence of tumors and cancer.

[Fredda Weinberg]

6. never mind

[Sadie4629]

7. Yes

But because there were no x-rays, CT scans, MRIs, or other tests often the cause of death couldn't be diagnosed.

[Book Lover]

8. Of course

http://training.seer.cancer.gov/module_cancer_disease/unit1_historic_perspective.html

Since the earliest medical records were kept, cancer as a disease has been described in the history of medicine. The earliest known descriptions of cancer appear in seven papyri, discovered and deciphered late in the 19th century. They provided the first direct knowledge of Egyptian medical practice. Two of them, known as the "Edwin Smith" and "George Ebers" papyri, contain descriptions of cancer written around 1600 B.C., and are believed to date from sources as early as 2500 B.C. The Smith papyrus describes surgery, while the Ebers' papyrus outlines pharmacological, mechanical, and magical treatments.

Based on the information recorded on papyri and hieroglyphic inscriptions, ancient Egyptians were able to distinguish benign tumors from malignant tumors. They were also able to use different treatments, including surgery, and other various modes of medicine.

Following the decline of Egypt, the next chapters of medical and scientific history were written in Greece and Rome. The great doctors Hippocrates and Galen dominated medical thought for 1500 years. They lifted medicine out of the realms of magic, superstition, and religion. Hippocrates and Galen defined
disease as a natural process, and based treatment on observation and experience. Cancers were identified, with warnings against treatment of the more severe forms. Hippocrates is credited with naming "cancer" as "karkinoma" (carcinoma) because a tumor looked like a "crab" ("karkinoma" is Greek for "crab") in that there is a central body to a tumor and the tumor extension appeared as the legs of the "crab".

After the fall of Rome, Constantinople became the intellectual storehouse of civilization. From there, in Arabic translations, classic Greek and Roman texts made their way back through Europe. The ancient teachings of Galen continued to inspire physicians in Constantinople, Cairo, Alexandria, Athens, and Antioch in a time when magic spells and myths dominated the West. Cancer continued to be explained as the result of an excess of black bile, curable only in its earliest stages.

[Nihil]

10. Thanks for posting that!

It saved me a Google session as I knew I'd read the Egyptian stuff
on paper but hadn't any (web) bookmarks for it!

:toast:

[TZ]

9. Yes

Usually it was called something like "consumption" or wasting disease.

[Nihil]

11. "Wasting disease" was a general term that included most cancers ...

... but "consumption" was normally lung/breathing problems
(typically TB).

:hi: