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Condition

Cancer

Also Known As Malignant Neoplastic Disease
Symptoms, Signs and Abnormal Clinical Findings

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 Class
neoplastic, chronic, genetic 3
First Described
1775 4
Marks 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
Prevalence
Cancer 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 Chapter
XVIII: Symptoms, Signs and Abnormal Clinical and Laboratory Findings, Not Elsewhere Classified 1
Communicable or Non-communicable
Non-Communicable 2
Transmission Route
Non-Transmissible 2
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
Pathology, Medical Specialties

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.

Source Adrenalectomy (Wikipedia)
Source Alternating electric field therapy (Wikipedia)

Antibody-drug conjugates are a class of targeted cancer therapy.

Source Antineoplastic (Wikipedia)
Source Autologous immune enhancement therapy (Wikipedia)
Source Bowel resection (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Cancer Immunotherapy
Source Cancer vaccine (Wikipedia)
Source Checkpoint inhibitor (Wikipedia)
Source Chemical castration (Wikipedia)

Chemoprevention uses drugs to reduce the risk of cancer developing or recurring.

Source Chemoradiotherapy (Wikipedia)
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Source CAR T cell (Wikipedia)
Source Cisplatin (Wikipedia)
Source Combinatorial ablation and immunotherapy (Wikipedia)
Source Cryoimmunotherapy (Wikipedia)
Debulking, Treatments
Source Debulking (Wikipedia)
Source Donor lymphocyte infusion (Wikipedia)
Source Endoscopic nasopharyngectomy (Wikipedia)
Source External beam radiotherapy (Wikipedia)
Source Fast neutron therapy (Wikipedia)
Source FLASH radiotherapy (Wikipedia)
Source Focused ultrasound for intracranial drug delivery (Wikipedia)
FOLFIRI, Treatments
Source FOLFIRI (Wikipedia)
FOLFOX, Treatments
Source FOLFOX (Wikipedia)

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy treats cancers that have spread to the lining of the abdominal cavity, typically combined with cytoreductive surgery.

Source Wikipedia: Cancer Immunotherapy
Source Induction chemotherapy (Wikipedia)
Source Lasers in cancer treatment (Wikipedia)
Source Maintenance therapy (Wikipedia)
Source Methotrexate (Wikipedia)
Source Metronomic therapy (Wikipedia)
Source Microwave ablation (Wikipedia)
Source Multimodal cancer therapy (Wikipedia)
Source Neck dissection (Wikipedia)

Neoadjuvant therapy is cancer treatment given before the primary treatment to shrink a tumor.

Oncotripsy, Treatments
Source Oncotripsy (Wikipedia)
Source Particle therapy (Wikipedia)
Source Percutaneous hepatic perfusion (Wikipedia)
Source Photothermal therapy (Wikipedia)
Source Prostate brachytherapy (Wikipedia)
Source Pulsed field ablation (Wikipedia)
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Source Semicarbazide-cadmium therapy (Wikipedia)
Source Targeted intra-operative radiotherapy (Wikipedia)
Source Treatment of lung cancer (Wikipedia)
Source Vaginectomy (Wikipedia)
Vulvectomy, Treatments
Source Vulvectomy (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: ICD-10
WikipediaList of chapters, Chapter XVIII
Quote, List of chapters, Chapter XVIII
Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Cancer
Wikipedia
  • Lead 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
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source
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 section
Quote, Treated By: Methotrexate, Lead section
a chemotherapy agent
View the Source
Cisplatin (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationTreated By: Cisplatin, Lead section
Quote, Treated By: Cisplatin, Lead section
used as a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of cancers
View the Source
Cancer vaccine (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Cancer Vaccine, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Cancer Vaccine, Lead: treats Cancer
A cancer vaccine, or oncovaccine, is a vaccine that either treats existing cancer or prevents development of cancer.
View the Source
Debulking (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Debulking, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Debulking, Lead: treats Cancer
In other types of cancer where debulking is not curative, it is sometimes done with palliative intent to relieve mass effect.
View the Source
External beam radiotherapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: External Beam Radiotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: External Beam Radiotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is a form of radiotherapy that utilizes a high-energy collimated beam of ionizing radiation, from a source outside the body, to target and kill cancer cells.
View the Source
Microwave ablation (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Microwave Ablation, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Microwave Ablation, Lead: treats Cancer
Microwave ablation is a form of thermal ablation used in interventional radiology to treat cancer.
View the Source
Checkpoint inhibitor (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Checkpoint inhibitor therapy is a form of cancer immunotherapy.
View the Source
Fast neutron therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Fast Neutron Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Fast Neutron Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Fast neutron therapy utilizes high energy neutrons typically between 50 and 70 MeV to treat cancer.
View the Source
Particle therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Particle Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Particle Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Particle therapy is a form of external beam radiotherapy using beams of energetic neutrons, protons, or other heavier positive ions for cancer treatment.
View the Source
Prostate brachytherapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Prostate Brachytherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Prostate Brachytherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Brachytherapy is a type of radiotherapy, or radiation treatment, offered to certain cancer patients.
View the Source
Targeted intra-operative radiotherapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Targeted intra-operative radiotherapy, also known as targeted IORT, is a technique of giving radiotherapy to the tissues surrounding a cancer after its surgical removal, a form of intraoperative radiation therapy.
View the Source
Endoscopic nasopharyngectomy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Endoscopic Nasopharyngectomy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Endoscopic Nasopharyngectomy, Lead: treats Cancer
The surgery is effective in the treatment of recently diagnosed localized nasopharyngeal cancer for stage I patients.
View the Source
Bowel resection (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Bowel Resection, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Bowel Resection, Lead: treats Cancer
Bowel resection may be performed to treat gastrointestinal cancer, bowel ischemia, necrosis, or obstruction due to scar tissue, volvulus, and hernias.
View the Source
Photothermal therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Photothermal Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Photothermal Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Photothermal therapy (PTT) refers to efforts to use electromagnetic radiation (most often in infrared wavelengths) for the treatment of various medical conditions, including cancer.
View the Source
Maintenance therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Maintenance Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Maintenance Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
For example, maintenance chemotherapy may be given to people who have a cancer in remission in an attempt to prevent a relapse.
View the Source
Multimodal cancer therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Multimodal Cancer Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Multimodal Cancer Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Diverse types of cancer can be treated via a multimodal approach, including non-small cell lung cancer and gastric cancer.
View the Source
Treatment of lung cancer (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Treatment of Lung Cancer, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Treatment of Lung Cancer, Lead: treats Cancer
Treatment of lung cancer refers to the use of medical therapies, such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, percutaneous ablation, and palliative care, alone or in combination, in an attempt to cure or lessen the adverse impact of malignant neoplasms originating in lung tissue.
View the Source
Donor lymphocyte infusion (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Donor lymphocyte infusion, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Donor lymphocyte infusion, Lead: treats Cancer
Donor lymphocyte (or leukocyte) infusion (DLI) or buffy coat infusion is a form of adoptive immunotherapy used to treat relapses after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for several types of blood cancer.
View the Source
Percutaneous hepatic perfusion (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Percutaneous hepatic perfusion, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Percutaneous hepatic perfusion, Lead: treats Cancer
Percutaneous hepatic perfusion (PHP) is a regionalized, minimally-invasive approach to cancer treatment currently undergoing Phase II and Phase III clinical testing.
View the Source
FLASH radiotherapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: FLASH radiotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: FLASH radiotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
The treatment is in the early stages of development and is not yet widely available as a form of cancer therapy.
View the Source
Alternating electric field therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Alternating electric field therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Alternating electric field therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Alternating electric field therapy, sometimes called tumor treating fields (TTFields), is a type of electromagnetic field therapy using low-intensity, intermediate frequency electrical fields to treat cancer.
View the Source
Autologous immune enhancement therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Autologous immune enhancement therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Autologous immune enhancement therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Autologous immune enhancement therapy (AIET) is a treatment method in which immune cells are taken out from the patient's body which are cultured and processed to activate them until their resistance to cancer is strengthened and then the cells are put back in the body.
View the Source
Cryoimmunotherapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Cryoimmunotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Cryoimmunotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Combining cryotherapy with immunotherapy enhances the immunostimulating response and has synergistic effects for cancer treatment.
View the Source
Oncotripsy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Oncotripsy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Oncotripsy, Lead: treats Cancer
Oncotripsy is a potential cancer therapy under development that selectively targets cancer cells by means of ultrasound harmonic excitation at their resonance frequency.
View the Source
Semicarbazide-cadmium therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Semicarbazide-cadmium therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Semicarbazide-cadmium therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
This method was successfully used for treatment of patients in later stages of lung, intestinal, and breast cancer, melanoma, and some other cancer types.
View the Source
Antineoplastic (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Antineoplastic, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Antineoplastic, Lead: treats Cancer
These drugs work through various mechanisms to kill or inhibit cancer cells to achieve the goal of treating malignant tumors.
View the Source
Lasers in cancer treatment (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Lasers in Cancer Treatment, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Lasers in Cancer Treatment, Lead: treats Cancer
Lasers are used to treat cancer in several different ways.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Cancer Immunotherapy
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Treated By: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor, Lead: treats Cancer
    Cancer immunotherapy (immuno-oncotherapy) is the stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer, improving the immune system's natural ability to fight the disease.
  • Treated By: Cancer Immunotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
    Cancer immunotherapy (immuno-oncotherapy) is the stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer, improving the immune system's natural ability to fight the disease.
View the Source
Combinatorial ablation and immunotherapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Combinatorial Ablation and Immunotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Combinatorial Ablation and Immunotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Combining ablation therapy of tumors with immunotherapy enhances the immunostimulating response and has synergistic effects for curative metastatic cancer treatment.
View the Source
Pulsed field ablation (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Pulsed Field Ablation, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Pulsed Field Ablation, Lead: treats Cancer
It is used most widely to treat tumors (cancer) or cardiac arrhythmias.
View the Source
Chemoradiotherapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Chemoradiotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Chemoradiotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Chemoradiotherapy (CRT, CRTx, CT-RT) is the combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to treat cancer.
View the Source
Induction chemotherapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Induction Chemotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Induction Chemotherapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Induction chemotherapy is the first-line treatment of cancer with a chemotherapeutic drug.
View the Source
FOLFOX (Wikipedia)
Treated By: FOLFOX, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: FOLFOX, Lead: treats Cancer
FOLFOX is a chemotherapy regimen for treatment of colorectal cancer, made up of the drugs folinic acid (leucovorin, FOL), fluorouracil (5-FU, F), and oxaliplatin (Eloxatin, OX).
View the Source
FOLFIRI (Wikipedia)
Treated By: FOLFIRI, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: FOLFIRI, Lead: treats Cancer
FOLFIRI is a chemotherapy regimen for treatment of colorectal cancer.
View the Source
Metronomic therapy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Metronomic Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Metronomic Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Metronomic therapy is a type of chemotherapy in which anti-cancer drugs are administered in a lower dose than the maximum tolerated dose repetitively over a long period to treat cancers with fewer side effects.
View the Source
Vaginectomy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Vaginectomy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Vaginectomy, Lead: treats Cancer
It is one form of treatment for individuals with vaginal cancer or rectal cancer that is used to remove tissue with cancerous cells.
View the Source
CAR T cell (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy, Lead: treats Cancer
CAR T cell therapy is a cell therapy that uses T cells engineered with CARs to treat cancer.
View the Source
Chemical castration (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Chemical Castration, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Chemical Castration, Lead: treats Cancer
Chemical castration is castration via anaphrodisiac drugs, whether to reduce libido and sexual activity, to treat cancer, or otherwise.
View the Source
Adrenalectomy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Adrenalectomy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Adrenalectomy, Lead: treats Cancer
Adrenalectomy can also be done to remove a cancerous tumor of the adrenal glands, or cancer that has spread from another location, such as the kidney or lung.
View the Source
Vulvectomy (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Vulvectomy, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Vulvectomy, Lead: treats Cancer
The procedure is usually performed as a last resort in certain cases of cancer, vulvar dysplasia, vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia, or as part of female genital mutilation.
View the Source
Neck dissection (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Neck Dissection, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Neck Dissection, Lead: treats Cancer
The aim of the procedure is to remove lymph nodes from one side of the neck into which cancer cells may have migrated.
View the Source
Focused ultrasound for intracranial drug delivery (Wikipedia)
Treated By: Focused ultrasound for intracranial drug delivery, Lead: treats Cancer
Quote, Treated By: Focused ultrasound for intracranial drug delivery, Lead: treats Cancer
Using FUS to enhance drug delivery to the brain could significantly improve patient outcomes for a variety of diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and brain cancer.
View the Source
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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