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The human body comprises several cells that grow and divide, giving room for new cells when the need occurs. An invasion of this normal process is what leads to cancer.
From time immemorial, cancer has been with humanity, affecting people across the world regardless of their race, age, sex, or status. Its saddening grip caused an upscale over the recent decades due to modern lifestyle adoptions. Smoking, a poor diet, and the lack of exercise have contributed to its rise.
Given most narratives, evidence of cancer was first found in fossilized bone tumors of mummies in ancient Egypt. However, the word ‘cancer’ finds its origins in Greek. In 460 B.C. — 370 B.C., ancient Greek Physician, Hippocrates, the ‘Father of Medicine,’ referenced in his Hippocratic Corpus, comprising about 60 medical works, the name ‘cancer,’ ‘karkinoma — ‘crab’ in Greek, because the appearance of a tumor was likened to a crab.
1500 B.C. saw the first-ever recorded case of breast cancer in ancient Egypt. By the late 19th century, Edwin Smith and George Ebers’ “Papyrus,” with descriptions from the 1600 B.C., drawings from early sources, contained an overview of the earliest descriptions of cancer, including surgery and treatments ranging from pharmacological and mechanical, to magical. This led to differentiating between benign and malignant tumors.
There are more than 100 types of cancer, with some more popular than others. Examples are: lung (2.21 million cases), breast (2.26 million cases), rectum and colon (1.93 million cases), skin (non-melanoma) (1.20 million cases), stomach (1.09 million cases), and prostate (1.41 million cases) are the top five most common, according to the World Health Organization.
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