The first cancer surgery was performed in Egypt 4500 years ago.

Injuries found in skull and jaw of a young man about thirty represent the first evidence that more than 4500 years ago, Ancient Egyptian doctors performed oncological surgery, first in the history of medicine.

Thanks to the writings of the time, it was known that ancient Egyptian medicine was very sophisticated. Their doctors were able to identify and treat many diseases, in addition to putting fillings, building prosthetics or performing amputations but so far no evidence of cancer-related surgery has been found.

Today, a study published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine provides evidence of the first-ever medical approaches to fighting cancer, operations that were performed in ancient Egypt in a man about thirty years old, between 2687 and 2345 BC. and a woman over fifty years of age whose remains date from 663–343 BC.

To study the evolution of cancer and how different societies interacted with the disease, the team analyzed two skulls preserved in the Duckworth Collection at the University of Cambridge (UK), skull 236 (male) and E270 (female). .

The frontier of medical knowledge

Ancient Egypt left behind authentic medical treatises, texts in which Egyptian doctors described the diseases from which they suffered and how to treat them.

“One of the most famous is the Edwin Smith papyrus, which is about 3600 years old, and it describes 48 cases, one of them, number 45, refers to possible breast cancer, but says there is no treatment“Edgard Camaros, a paleopathologist at the Spanish University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and lead author of the study, explains to EFE.

And it shows that “although the ancient Egyptians were able to treat complex skull fractures, cancer remained the frontier of medical knowledge– adds Tatiana Tondini, researcher at the University of Tübingen (Germany) and co-author of the study.

By analyzing skull 236, the team discovered extensive lesion caused by neoplasman abnormal tissue formation—likely a primary tumor—and about thirty small metastatic lesions and round, scattered throughout the skull.

But they also discovered cuts around these injuries, which was probably made with a sharp object such as a metal tool. “We couldn’t believe what was in front of us,” Tondini recalls.

“These cuts are evidence that there was an oncological operation related to the tumors. They could be done before the death of a person, for medicinal purposes, or a few hours after his death, during post-mortem surgery; in this case we would have faced an autopsy out of medical curiosity to analyze the cancer,” Camaros told EFE.

Very severe injury

For its part, the E270 skull also had a large lesion caused by a cancerous tumor which destroyed the right side of his head, but in addition, on the left side, “damages were found caused by a very serious injury that could have caused death if medical intervention had not been carried out, as was the case,” adds the researcher from University of Southern California.

In fact, this woman not only underwent surgery, but also “He lived for many years after this fracture until he developed a tumor that ended his life. Without a doubt, the result of this operation was impressive.”emphasizes Camaros.

The team believes the injury was caused by a blunt-edged object, such as a sword, and due to its location on the left side of the skull, “We think this could be done in cases of interpersonal violence, such as war or assault.”– he notes.

But for the researchers, the most important thing about the study is that the presence of tumors indicates that although current lifestyle, aging or carcinogens present in the environment may have triggered the current prevalence of cancer, the disease was also a common pathology in the world. past.

And especially, this study “perfectly shows the frontier of knowledge in Egyptian medicine, which was able to treat injuries that would otherwise be fatal, but did not know how to treat cancer,” Kamaros points out.