What Ancient Egyptian Medicine Can Teach Us

Abstract

Dr Elsayad describes his impressions regarding the medical and surgical procedures used for patients with cancer and reports on the oncologic cases from ancient Egyptian remains published in the literature.

Case report: Boundaries of oncological and traumatological medical care in ancient Egypt: new palaeopathological insights from two human skulls

“…Egypt is well-known for its medical knowledge and treatment modalities from both bioarchaeological [e.g., ( 1 )] and historical written sources [e.g., The Edwin Smith Papyrus (1,700–1,600 BCE); Kahun papyri (1,850–1,700 BCE) or Ebers papyri amongst others. See ( 2 ) for an updated review]. Therefore, this is an exceptional historical context to explore the boundaries related to medical treatise and care.…”

“…However, as previously mentioned, neoplasms were identified to some extent in the past [see ( 9 )]. Moreover, malignancy is recognised in the ancient Egyptian palaeopathological record [e.g., ( 2 , 15–18 )], contributing to the current perspective that cancer was much more prevalent than previously assumed [see ( 14 , 19 , 20 )]. In this context, considering the anatomical and physiological knowledge attained by the ancient Egyptians through medical and mummification practises, it seems reasonable to infer that some form of exploration and therapeutic attempts related to malignancy might have been developed, suggesting potential surgical management ( 9 ).…”