The History of Cancer

Here we provide an overview of how people have understood and described cancer throughout history, as well as how the treatment of cancer has evolved. Click on the topics below to get started.

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• What is cancer?
• Renaissance period
• Nineteenth century
• Cancer causes: Theories throughout history
• Modern knowledge and cancer cause
• Viral and chemical carcinogens
• Cancer epidemiology
• Cancer screening and early detection
• Evolution of cancer treatments
• Hormone therapy
• Radiation
• Chemotherapy
• Immunotherapy
• Targeted therapy
• Cancer survivorship
• The twenty-first century and beyond
• References