title: Cancer: an old disease, a new disease or something in between?
abstract: In industrialized societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. The history of this disorder has the potential to improve our understanding of disease prevention, aetiology, pathogenesis and treatment. A striking rarity of malignancies in ancient physical remains might indicate that cancer was rare in antiquity, and so poses questions about the role of carcinogenic environmental factors in modern societies. Although the rarity of cancer in antiquity remains undisputed, the first published histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy demonstrates that new evidence is still forthcoming.
authors.affiliation: KNH Centre of Biomedical Egyptology, The University of Manchester, 3.614 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. rosalie.david@manchester.ac.uk
authors.forename: A Rosalie
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001154:Art; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms; D010164:Paleopathology
references.citation: Cancer. 1966 May;19(5):607-10
references.pmid: 5326247
references.citation: Am J Phys Anthropol. 2003 Nov;122(3):232-9
references.pmid: 14533181
references.citation: Clin Radiol. 1983 Nov;34(6):597-608
references.pmid: 6370557
references.citation: Am J Phys Anthropol. 1984 Dec;65(4):373-80
references.pmid: 6395693
references.citation: Tex Heart Inst J. 1993;20(4):252-7
references.pmid: 8298320
references.citation: Bull Cancer. 2006 Aug;93(8):767-73
references.pmid: 16935781
references.citation: Lancet. 2008 Nov 22;372(9652):1802-3
references.pmid: 19048654
references.citation: Paleopathol Newsl. 1993 Sep;(83):5-8
references.pmid: 11623345
references.citation: Arch Dermatol. 1981 Jun;117(6):364-5
references.pmid: 6264861
references.citation: Oncol Rep. 2006 Jul;16(1):197-202
references.pmid: 16786146
references.citation: Int J Cancer. 2005 Jan 1;113(1):2-13
references.pmid: 15389511
references.citation: Anticancer Res. 2007 Nov-Dec;27(6B):4117-9
references.pmid: 18225581
references.citation: Am J Phys Anthropol. 2001;Suppl 33:106-47
references.pmid: 11786993
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 1970 Jan 1;282(1):18-23
references.pmid: 4902417
references.citation: Ann Clin Lab Sci. 1990 Sep-Oct;20(5):301-6
references.pmid: 2256657
references.citation: Bull N Y Acad Med. 1980 Jul-Aug;56(6):581-7
references.pmid: 6992892
references.citation: Cancer. 1977 Sep;40(3):1358-62
references.pmid: 902245
references.citation: Science. 1994 Oct 14;266(5183):299-300
references.pmid: 17771450
references.citation: Am J Phys Anthropol. 2004 Dec;125(4):320-8
references.pmid: 15386249
references.citation: Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1983 Feb;107(2):91-3
references.pmid: 6337583
references.citation: Am J Phys Anthropol. 1992 Nov;89(3):309-23
references.pmid: 1485639