The general class of diseases in which abnormal cells divide uncontrollably and can invade and spread to other parts of the body, arising from accumulated mutations in the genes that regulate cell growth and division. Descriptions of tumors appear in the Egyptian Edwin Smith Papyrus, circa 1600 BCE; the Greek physician Hippocrates, around 400 BCE, is credited with naming the disease karkinos, crab, for the crab-like appearance of a tumor's spreading veins, later Latinized as cancer by the Roman physician Celsus. This atlas records cancer as a general class alongside the specific treatments developed against it, chemotherapy and radiotherapy chief among them, rather than minting one entity per cancer type, matching the same general-class discipline already applied to bacterial infection and cardiovascular disease.
Facts
Condition Classneoplastic, chronic, genetic 3 First DescribedMarks Percivall Pott's 1775 identification of scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps as the first documented environmental or occupational cause of cancer, a landmark in understanding cancer causation, not the first description of the disease itself, which is ancient (see first-described-era). First Described (Era)Tumors are described in the Egyptian Edwin Smith Papyrus, circa 1600 BCE. Hippocrates named the disease karkinos, crab, circa 400 BCE; the Roman physician Celsus later Latinized the term as cancer. 4 PrevalenceCancer was responsible for an estimated 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths worldwide, according to World Health Organization data. 5 Classification
ICD-10 ChapterXVIII: Symptoms, Signs and Abnormal Clinical and Laboratory Findings, Not Elsewhere Classified 1 Communicable or Non-communicable Transmission Route Connections
Associated With
MRI is a standard tool for detecting, staging and monitoring many soft-tissue tumors.
Source Raymond V. Damadian, M.D.: Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Controversy of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Virchow's cellular pathology established the modern framework for diagnosing cancer as a disease of cells, distinguishing cancer cells from normal cells under the microscope.
Source Rudolph Virchow, the father of cellular pathology
X-rays, Discoveries X-ray imaging is foundational to cancer diagnosis and staging, and ionizing radiation itself became a cancer treatment, radiotherapy, within years of Rontgen's 1895 discovery.
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Long-Form Articles
Treated By
Adjuvant therapy is additional cancer treatment given after the primary treatment to reduce the risk of recurrence.
Antibody-drug conjugates are a class of targeted cancer therapy.
Chemoprevention uses drugs to reduce the risk of cancer developing or recurring.
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Source Cisplatin (Wikipedia)
Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy treats cancers that have spread to the lining of the abdominal cavity, typically combined with cytoreductive surgery.
Source Methotrexate (Wikipedia)
Neoadjuvant therapy is cancer treatment given before the primary treatment to shrink a tumor.
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Sources
1. Wikipedia: ICD-10
WikipediaList of chapters, Chapter XVIIIQuote, List of chapters, Chapter XVIII
Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified
2. Wikipedia: Cancer
WikipediaLead section, disease-category statement
Cancer is a group of diseases involving uncontrolled cell growth typically resulting in tumors with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.
Lead section, transmission-route statement
Cancer is a group of diseases involving uncontrolled cell growth typically resulting in tumors with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.
View the Source 3. Encyclopaedia Britannica
4. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity
Roy Porter, W. W. Norton and Company, 1997
5. World Health Organization Fact Sheets
Raymond V. Damadian, M.D.: Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Controversy of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Associated With: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Rudolph Virchow, the father of cellular pathology
American Association for the Advancement of ScienceAssociated With: PathologyView the Source Methotrexate (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationTreated By: Methotrexate, Lead sectionQuote, Treated By: Methotrexate, Lead section
a chemotherapy agent
Cisplatin (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationTreated By: Cisplatin, Lead sectionQuote, Treated By: Cisplatin, Lead section
used as a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of cancers
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does the word cancer come from?
From the Greek karkinos, crab, later Latinized by Celsus.
The Greek physician Hippocrates, around 400 BCE, is credited with naming the disease karkinos, crab, for the crab-like appearance of a tumor's spreading veins. The Roman physician Celsus later Latinized it as cancer.
What are the earliest descriptions of cancer?
The Egyptian Edwin Smith Papyrus, circa 1600 BCE.
Descriptions of tumors appear in the Egyptian Edwin Smith Papyrus, circa 1600 BCE.
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