Le(s) cancer(s) de Lucy  : une origine préhistorique ?

Conclusions Même s’il y avait peu de tumeurs, leur nombre étant probablement sous-estimé, leur description et leur confirmation ne font pas de doute. Le cancer ne serait donc pas une maladie liée uniquement à l’industrialisation et au mode vie de l’époque moderne. Nous avons probablement hérité de nos ancêtres d’une prédisposition génétique dont l’interaction avec les carcinogènes de l’environnement et notre longévité pourrait conduire aux cancers. 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 ...
Source: Gynecologie Obstetrique and Fertilite - Category: OBGYN Source Type: research