Ancient Egyptian skeleton shows signs of breast cancer

By Elahe Izadi

Researchers working in Egypt say they have found the oldest example of breast cancer in the 4,200-year-old remains of an Egyptian woman — a discovery that casts further doubt on the common perception of cancer as a modern disease associated with today's lifestyles.

This evidence, reported by the news agency Reuters, comes a year after another team announced its own discovery farther south in the Nile Valley. Those archaeologists had examined a 3,000-year-old skeleton that a Durham University researcher found in modern-day Sudan and said it was the oldest complete example of a human suffering from metastatic cancer.

They published their findings last year in the journal PLoS ONE, writing that cancer's relative absence in the archaeological record had given "rise to the conclusion that the disease is mainly a product of modern living and increased longevity."

The newest ancient example of cancer, discovered by an anthropological team from Spain's University of Jaen, was found in the bones of a woman thought to have been an aristocrat from southern Egypt, Reuters reported.

"The study of her remains shows the typical destructive damage provoked by the extension of a breast cancer as a metastasis," Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty said in a statement on Tuesday, Reuters reported. He added that the woman's bones showed "an extraordinary deterioration."

Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus; earliest mention of cancer

By Rany Mostafa

CAIRO: World Cancer Day, which falls every year on Feb. 4, has a link to ancient Egypt as The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, currently in the New York Academy of Medicine, is believed to contain the earliest written record of cancer in mankind history.

In addition to providing the earliest reference to suturing of non-infected wounds with a needle and thread along with preparing splints for bone fracture, the text, dating from 1,600 B.C., also contains diagnosis of eight cases of breast tumors along with treatment by cauterizing tools, ancient Egyptian history professor Sherif el-Sabban told The Cairo Post Wednesday.

“The papyrus, written in hieratic script, contains 48 case histories on head, thorax and spine injuries with each presentation divided into title, examination, diagnosis, and treatment,” said Sabban, adding that the breast cancer is mentioned in the papyrus but it was considered non-curable.

For example, in case 39, dealing with “tumors with prominent heads and have produced cysts of pus in a man’s breast,” the author recommended cauterizing tumors using a “fire drill” said Sabban.

“American archaeologist Edwin Smith purchased the papyrus from Luxor in 1862; it was donated by his daughter to Brooklyn Museum in 1906 before it was presented to the New York Academy of Medicine where it has resided since 1920,” former head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Abdel Halim Noureddin told The Cairo Post Thursday.

The manuscript was first translated by former Director of the University of Chicago Oriental Institute American archaeologist James Henry Breasted (1865-1935,) said Noureddin, adding that this surgical text is an incomplete copy of an original document that perhaps dates back to the pyramid age (2700B.C.–2200 B.C.)

“Unlike other civilizations in the Middle East, the ancient Egyptian understanding of traumatic injuries was based on scientific practices gained through observation and examination, rather than depending on magic or supernatural powers,” he added.

Source: http://www.thecairopost.com/news/136200/sticker/edwin-smith-surgical-papyrus-earliest-mention-of-cancer

Archaeologists discover earliest example of human with cancer

BY KATE KELLAND

(Reuters) - British archaeologists have found what they say is the world's oldest complete example of a human being with metastatic cancer and hope it will offer new clues about the now common and often fatal disease.

Researchers from Durham University and the British Museum discovered the evidence of tumors that had developed and spread throughout the body in a 3,000-year-old skeleton found in a tomb in modern Sudan in 2013.

Analyzing the skeleton using radiography and a scanning electron microscope, they managed to get clear imaging of lesions on the bones which showed the cancer had spread to cause tumors on the collar bones, shoulder blades, upper arms, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis and thigh bones.

"Insights gained from archaeological human remains like these can really help us to understand the evolution and history of modern diseases," said Michaela Binder, a Durham PhD student who led the research and excavated and examined the skeleton.

"Our analysis showed that the shape of the small lesions on the bones can only have been caused by a soft tissue cancer ... though the exact origin is impossible to determine through the bones alone."