4000-Year-Old Skulls With Tiny Cut Marks Reveal How Ancient Egyptians Attempted To Treat Cancer With Surgical Intervention

Cancer already existed hundreds of years ago, and ancient Egyptians encountered the illness and even attempted to cure it.

Ancient Egyptians Attempted To Treat Cancer With Surgical Intervention

The ancient Egyptians were known for their sophisticated medical knowledge and skills. Even now, we are still learning from them. However, there was one illness they struggled to address -- cancer.

Two skulls being kept in the Duckworth Collection at the University of Cambridge exhibit indications of attempts to treat cancer and other injuries as well as proof of their occurrence. Although there are indications of malignancy on both skulls, a thorough microscopic and CT scan investigation reveals a radically different picture of each.

The owner of skull number 236 was a guy who lived in ancient Egypt between 2687 and 2345 BCE. Although there are other possible diagnoses, the about thirty lesions on his skull, which are compatible with metastasized cancer, indicate that the man died in his early 30s.

Most of these lesions are tiny, but a few are notably larger. One of these is a neoplasm on top of the man's head, which is a coin-sized depression that has been hollowed out as tissue was destroyed by cancerous tissue.

Upon deeper inspection of the lesions, the researchers observed something remarkable. The edges are scored with cut lines, giving the impression that an ancient surgeon used a metal instrument to try to remove the neoplasms. These cuts appear to have been made at the time of the man's death, most likely as a result of his cancer, though they may have been made for forensic purposes or as a last choice. They also show little to no signs of healing.

"It seems ancient Egyptians performed some kind of surgical intervention related to the presence of cancerous cells," said orthopedic surgeon Albert Isidro of the University Hospital Sagrat Cor.

He added that it proved that ancient Egyptian medicine also conducted experimental treatments or medical exploration regarding cancer.

"This finding is unique evidence of how ancient Egyptian medicine would have tried to deal with or explore cancer more than 4,000 years ago," added paleopathologist Edgard Camarós of the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. "This is an extraordinary new perspective in our understanding of the history of medicine."

Skull number E270 belonged to a female individual who lived between 663 and 343 BCE. Her skull is replete with stories, and she was over 50 when she passed away. You may first notice a large lesion between the right frontal and parietal bones that dominates the top of the skull. Among other possible diagnoses, this lesion is consistent with osteosarcoma or meningioma.

However, the skull has been repaired in other places. Sharp-force trauma caused a big injury over her left eyebrow. The researchers claim that someone appeared to have struck her in the head with a sharp object. And there's a blunt-force trauma injury a bit further back on the left side of the top of her skull.

These wounds are extremely intriguing because of how nicely they've healed. She survived both, which again raises the possibility she received treatment, even though it was unclear if they were sustained concurrently or independently. However, the female victim had such severe, combat-related wounds, which puzzled the researchers, who wondered if she was involved in war.

Unlike the man's skull and her prior traumas, the large malignant lesion on the woman's skull does not exhibit any treatment-related symptoms.

Therefore, even if the exact cause of death for both patients is unknown, the advanced stage of the malignancy in both cases suggests a connection to mortality that cannot be disregarded. Even though the ancient Egyptians attempted the procedure, the remedy appears to be elusive.

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Aspirin Helps Detect and Target Cancer

Aspirin is a pain reliever that has been used to fight cancer. Scientists are still unsure how to prevent cancer but are getting closer to discovering the solution.

Italian researchers found in a recent study that aspirin helps our immune system. It seems to aid in identifying and focusing on cancer cells, which may explain the anti-cancer effects reported in earlier research.

Tissue samples from aspirin patients showed reduced cancer spread to lymph nodes, crucial immune system checkpoints throughout the body, and increased immune cell infiltration into these tumors. These results imply that the immune system had a greater chance of preventing cancer.

"Our study shows a complementary mechanism of cancer prevention or therapy with aspirin besides its classical drug mechanism involving inhibition of inflammation," said lead author Marco Scarpa of the University of Padova.