Pre-19th Century History

 

The first written description of cancer comes from the Egyptians, circa 1600 B.C., in the Edwin Smith papyrus. The tumors described were in the breast, and treatment was cauterization with an instrument called a "fire drill." The papyrus reported that there was no effective treatment for cancerous growths. Descriptions of cancer also appeared among the ancient Greeks. Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.E.) created the terminology of "carcinos" and "carcinoma" in characterizing tumors. These terms allude to a crab, no doubt chosen because of the spidery lines growing out of a tumor. The Roman physician Celsus (c. 25-c. 50 B.C.E.) translated Hippocrates' Greek terms into Latin, resulting in the term cancer. Celsus attempted to remove tumors by surgery but discovered that they merely grew back. In the second century A.D., Galen pronounced cancer untreatable.


19th Century Developments

 

Until the 19th century, cancer did remain untreatable, although physicians like the Scotsman John Hunter in the 18th century suggested that surgery might completely remove a tumor. But, until the invention of anesthesia in 1846 and antiseptics in 1867, surgery was generally too painful and often fatal; it was only even attempted when no other options were available. After surgery became possible, doctors attempted surgical treatments like mastectomies with success.


Radiation Therapy

 

In 1895 Wilhelm Roentgen discovered x-rays; the following year, Henri Becquerel described radioactivity. Physicians quickly attempted the treatment of various illnesses with radiation to see what would ensue. In the U.S., William Allen Pusey and Nicholas Senn used radiation to treat lymphomas as early as 1902 and 1903. As scientists learned how to measure radiation more effectively and more about the effects of certain doses, radiation became an effective treatment for cancer in the first half of the 20th century.


Chemotherapy

 

The first known use of chemicals to treat cancer was in the 1000s when Avicenna (in Arabic, Ibn Sina) used arsenic to treat cancer, but he reported that they could be fatal. The first modern example of chemotherapy was in 1865, when Heinrich Lissauer treated chronic myelogenous leukemia with potassium arsenite. Derivatives of arsenic were used in cancer treatment through the 1970s. Doctors also discovered that mustard gas could be used to good effect during World War II, after it was observed that the chemical inhibited white blood cells; scientists made the intuitive leap that it could do the same for cancer cells. In the 1940s, nitrogen mustard was given intravenously to patients with lymphomas. Though they only improved for a short period of time, the experience led researchers to search for other chemicals with similar effects, resulting in the use of medicines like methotrexate by the 1950s.


 

Cancer Chemotherapy History


Who could have guessed accidental mustard gas exposure would lead to an important cancer treatment? Surely not the group of people exposed during a World War II military operation. Their encounter with chemical warfare, however, led to modern cancer chemotherapy--now a front-line defense against the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells. Its serendipitous discovery is just part of the history of cancer chemo.


 

World War II

 

Mustard gas is one of the strongest and most effective chemical weapons. It attacks both the eyes and skin and when inhaled damages internal organs, including the lungs. Following a WWII military operation, tests revealed those exposed to the gas had a very low white blood cell count. According to the American Cancer Society, doctors reasoned that the damage to white blood cells might also be extended to cancer cells. They gave the drug intravenously to avoid lung and skin irritation to several patients with advanced lymphomas. The results, though short-term, were stunning.


 

Today

 

The next two decades brought the use of combination chemotherapy and the ability to cure advanced Hodgkin's disease and acute childhood leukemia. Today's efforts have brought a change to the field, as targeted treatments look at an array of cancers and advanced screening techniques.