Was it truly already present in ancient Egypt? - Ancient cancer surgery signs uncovered after 4300 years.
Around the same time, high culture along the Nile may have been involved in other marvels: the fight against cancer through surgery. Archeologists have discovered evidence of this in more than 4,300-year-old skulls that bear signs of jaw tumors and metastases.
Surgical marks and incisions on these skull bones could suggest: The ancient Egyptians investigated these bone tumors surgically. Or they attempted to remove them, as the science magazine scinexx.de reported.
Surgery in the Shadows of the Pyramids
The ancient Egyptians were knowledgeable in dental treatments, prosthetics, and even set bone fractures, as well as skull fractures. They were not afraid of brain surgery, as evident from some skull findings.
"Now we know that they also examined cancerous growths, potentially operated on them," reports the science magazine. "A skull from around 2600 to 2300 BC, part of the University of Cambridge's collection, proves this."
The skull belonged to a man aged between 30 and 35. Analyses by scientists at the University of Tübingen exposed: "The 4,300-year-old skull shows clear signs of a primary jaw tumor at the maxilla. In addition, the skull bone is filled with over 30 small, circular holes and damage."
The researchers stated that these pathological lesions correspond to a primary nasal-pharyngeal tumor of the maxilla and secondary metastases in the rest of the skull. "Skull 236 represents one of the oldest known cancer cases from ancient Egypt."
The sensation arose when the University team analyzed the environment of the bone metastases on skull 236 under a microscope. Several cuts were then visible near some of the round bone holes.
The shape and location of these incisions hint they were used to expose the tumors - or even to remove them. "It seems the ancient Egyptians practiced a form of surgical treatment related to these tumors," scinexx cited the researchers.
However, it remains unclear whether these incisions were made shortly before death or right after, the researchers confessed. It is also possible that an autopsy was performed on a recently deceased person.
Still, "this discovery is a unique testimony to how ancient Egyptian medicine attempted to study or treat cancer," the scientists are certain. "This provides us with a completely new perspective on the history of medicine."
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