Various forms of cancer have been described throughout history. Up until the 19th century, attempts at treating cancer were largely unsuccessful. Then rapid advances in medicine led to the development of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, which remain (in different combinations) the primary treatments used today. Further advances in the 20th century have added treatments like bone marrow transplantation and hormone therapy to the physician's arsenal for combating cancer.
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 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 Treatment Today
Refinements were made to surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy throughout the 20th century. More recent advances in cancer treatment include the first transplant of bone marrow in 1978 at the University of Minnesota by John Kersey; this is now a first-line treatment for lymphoma and some types of leukemia. Hormone therapy was discovered in the mid-20th century, and is sometimes used to treat prostate and breast cancers.
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