[Lucy's cancer(s): A prehistorical origin?] / Le(s) cancer(s) de Lucy : une origine préhistorique ?

OBJECTIVES: The recent discovery of the earliest hominin cancer, a 1.7-million-year-old osteosarcoma from South Africa has raised the question of the origin of cancer and its determinants. We aimed to determine whether malignant and benign tumors exist in the past societies. METHODS: A review of literature using Medline database and Google about benign and malignant tumors in prehistory and antiquity. Only cases with morphological and paraclinical analysis were included. The following keywords were used: cancer; paleopathology; malignant neoplasia; benign tumor; leiomyoma; myoma; breast cancer; mummies; soft tissue tumor; Antiquity. RESULTS: Thirty-five articles were found in wich there were 34 malignant tumors, 10 benign tumors and 11 gynecological benign tumors. CONCLUSIONS: The fact that there were some malignant tumors, even few tumors and probably underdiagnosed, in the past may be evidence that cancer is not only a disease of the modern world. Cancer may be indeed a moving target: we have likely predisposing genes to cancer inherited from our ancestors. The malignant disease could therefore appear because of our modern lifestyle (carcinogens and risk factors related to the modern industrial society).

[Treatment of uterine myoma (1876-1936). A professional controversy between surgeons and radiologists]. / El tratamiento de los miomas uterinos (1876-1936). Una controversia profesional entre cirujanos y radiólogos.

All along the process of development of radiotherapy as a medical specialty, different controversies have emerged making dermatologists, gynecologists, ear, nose and throat specialists, and radiotherapists fight each other for the monopoly of the therapy based on radiation. In the present work we study an aspect of the negotiations that shaped up the therapeutical policy in the treatment of uterine myomas.

Tumors in the remains of ancient Egyptians.

A survey of the tumors found in the remains of the Ancient Egyptians shows the occurrence of all the kinds of tumors which would be expected to be preserved in the osteological evidence. On the other hand, findings of tumors in the soft tissues of mummies are only exceptional. The frequency of tumors seems to be lower than in recent years, probably because of the shorter mean duration of life. The pathological lesions preserved in bony sturcture reveal not only osseous tumors, but also the presence of some tumors of soft tissues eroding the bone. To the survey of cases described in the literature, original findings of a calcified myoma uteri and of a probably epipharyngeal carcinoma are added. Because our knowledge on the history of tumors is not yet comprehensive, much more attention should be devoted to the search for them, starting from the moment of excavation of any cemetary.