YEARS

EVENTS

ORGANIZATIONS

Before 1700

around 1500 BC: Earliest references in the Ebers Papyrus, written in Egypt (Braun)

c. 400 BC: By the time of Hippocrates Greek physicians were familiar with cancers of the breast, stomach and uterus. (Braun); Hippocrates delineated several types of cancer and coined the term"karkinos" (hard lumps) (Cassileth)

c. 160 AD: the Roman physician Galen developed his humoral theory to explain the etiology of cancer, and his views dominated we stern medicine for the next 1500 years. (Braun)

They were specially familiar with breast cancer, which they associated with the suppression of menses (Galluci1)

1530: Antonio Ferri described for the first time the role of prostate tumors in causing bladder outlet obstruction (Perez et al.)

1538: Vesalius provided the first anatomical drawings of the prostate (Perez et al.)

Harvey's theory of circulation and the emergence of modern chemistry eroded the humoral theory. Corrosive acids or ferments would be responsible to create cancer. (Galluci1)

1649: Riolan described a prostate tumor (Perez et al.)

1794: Billie first reported prostatic carcinoma(Perez et al.)

1786: the English anatomist John Hunter demonstrated that removing the testicles from young male animals prevented the growth of the prostate(Perez et al.)

c. XVIth century: metastasis is understood (Cassileth)

late XVIIIth century: connections between certain occupations and malignant lesions(Cassileth)

XVIIIth century: Zacutus Lusitanus and Daniel Sennert concluded that cancer was contagious and helped initiate the sense of shame, horror and stigma(Cassileth)

XVIIIth century: end of humoral theory, beginning of modern view: localistic. (Cassileth)

Physicians began to describe different tissues (Galluci1) According to Galluci, metastasis was still explained as an amorphous fluid or seed.

Researchers began to liken tumors to embryonic development. (Galluci1)

mid-1750s: Morgagni described prostatic enlargement, with involvement of the seminal vesicles(Shelley)

1761: Hill postulated a connection between the use of snuff and the development of polyps and cancers (Galluci2)

1775: Percivall Pott discovered the relationship between exposure to soot and development of squamous cell carcinomas of the skin (Berlin)

1795: Soemmering reported a link between pipe smoking and oral cancer (Galluci2)

1800-1899

XIXth cen: first trends towards medical specialization; identification of difference between malignant and benign forms; surgical mortality decreases due to understanding of asepsis; first cancer journals; first cancer hospitals (Cassileth)

1817: First genuine description of a prostatic carcinoma by George Langstaff in London (Shelley)

1847: Benjamin Brodie described prostatic carcinoma and metastasis to the vertebra (Shelley)

1867: Theodor Billroth performed the first perineal prostatectomy for carcinoma of the prostate (Shelley)

1869: Wilhelm Waldeyer argued that cancers arise from normal epithelium and spread by direct extension via lymphatic system or bloodstream. (Galluci1)

1895: George Beatson reported tumor regressions in pre-menopausal women undergoing oophorectomy for breast cancer (Berlin)

The Free Cancer Hospital was founded in London in 1851. The present hospital was constructed in 1862. It became known as The Royal Marsden Hospital in 1854 (theroyal)

The first center in the United States devoted specifically to cancer research was founded by Dr. Roswell Park in 1898 in Buffalo. It evolved into the Roswell Park Memorial Institute (Rusch)

1900

Boveri proposed the somatic mutation theory, according to which, abnormalities of the chromosomes were responsible for the development of cancer (Galluci2)

The Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Surgeons of England joined hands in establishing the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, an institution devoted to statistical and experimental cancer research (dukes)

Hugh H. Young of Johns Hopkins University performed the first radical prostatectomy. It was known as the radical perineal prostatectomy (Scott) The operation involved removal of the entire prostate gland, the seminal vesicles, and a small cuff of bladder, with the bladder then sutured to the cut end of the urethra. That became the surgery of choice until the 1940s (Shelley)

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is founded (http://library.uwaterloo.ca/society/1930_1939.html) (Creech)

Ellerman and Bang identified the fowl leukosis virus (Berlin)

The Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research is established (Nakahara)

Peyton Rous discovered the virus that produces sarcoma in chickens (Berlin)

The Institute Gustave-Roussy is founded in France (a major cancer center, for research as well as clinical treatment) (Bernoulli)

The Institut Jules Bordet is the first cancer institute in Belgium (Beumer)

Albert Tannebaum showed that calorically restricted diets protected animals from cancer (in the 30's Berlin)

In the early 30s, Charles Huggins discovered the efficacy of hormonal therapy through castration and estrogen dosage (Scott)

During the 30s, Edith Sproul, Alexander Gutman and Ethel Benedict, at the Presbyterian Hospital in NY, demonstrated striking elevations of acid phosphatase at the site of prostatic cancer metastases in bone. The research showed that blood levels of AP could be correlated with progress of the disease. And since acid phosphates levels in the prostate rise with maturity and vary with hormonal status, it became clear that cancer cells could be functionally mature, not embryonic, which was the prevailing belief of the time. (Sproul)

International Union Against Cancer (IUAC) = Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC) (http://library.uwaterloo.ca/society/1930_1939.html)

Leon Jacobsen noted the effect of nitrogen mustard on lymphomas (during WWII) (Berlin)

In the 40s, Charles Huggins showed that regression of prostate carcinomas could be induced by endocrine controls (Perez et al.) He would receive a Noble Prize for this in 1966.

In the 1940s, Terrence Millin developed his retropubic approach to prostate surgery (Shelley)

Sidney Farber began treating childhood leukemia with folic acid antagonists (a few years later) (Berlin)

Terrence Millin pioneered the retropubic prostatectomy (Scott)

Public Health campaigns of the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society: education about the 7 warning signs, the need for early diagnosis, the increasing use of the Pap smear, the Surgeon General's campaign against smoking, the rise of chemotherapy, the development of megavoltage radiotherapy (Breslow)

Sarah Stewart identified the polyoma virus (Berlin)

(fifties) First trials on external radiotherapy for prostate cancer (Hafermann)

Methotrexate began to achieve high cure rates in treating choriocarcinoma (Berlin)

Brice Vallet of the United States began employing the transsacral prostatectomy (Shelley)

The Lacy-Zarubin Agreement between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. targeted on cooperative work against cancer. (Bruno)

Studies in the 60s about Japanese migrants moving to California (stomach cancer decreased, colorectal increased) (Berlin)

Oncology evolved into a recognized medical discipline in the 60s (Cassileth)

By the early sixties, radiotherapy had become an important new tool in the fight against prostate cancer (Hafermann)

In the 1960s J.A. Del Regato led the way in external megavoltage therapy of prostate cancer (Scott)

Charles Huggins received a Nobel Prize for his earlier work demonstrating the effect of hormonal manipulation (castration and adrenalectomy) in prostate cancer (Berlin)

Combination chemotherapy providing long-term survival for 50% of children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (Berlin);

Elwood Jensen identified an estrogen receptor in some breast cancers (Berlin)

Dr. Gerald Murphy of the National Prostate Cancer Project in the 1970s and 1980s developed several chemotherapeutic protocols using cyclophosphamide, estrmustine, 5-fluorouracil, semustine, dacarbazine, and streptozotocin. (Scott)

The National Cancer Act: between 1971 and 1976 the budget of the NCA increased from $180 to $815 million. Just over 50% was spent on basic research (Rettig, Schmidt)

The U.S.-U.S.S.R. Bilateral Health Agreement, in which both countries agreed to share info on chemotherapy, virology, cellular genetics and cancer epidemiology (Bruno)

Evidence for relationship between diet (fat consumption) and prostate cancer (Carrol & Khor)

the FDA approved the PSA test to aid in the care of patients already diagnosed with cancer. It was approved in conjunction with a digital rectal exam. http://oncolink.upenn.edu.

the National Prostate Cancer Coalition (NPCC) was born.