[Surgical treatment of breast carcinoma since Hippocrates of Cos]

The pessimistic prognosis for cancerous diseases made by the founder of occidental medical science, Hippocrates of Cos (ca. 460 BC--ca. 370 BC), resulted also in the fact that the surgical treatment of breast cancer was performed rather as a last resort. Not until the rise of scientific surgery in the 16th century did European surgeons begin to develop different procedures in the surgical treatment of breast cancer. In 1774, in a treatise rewarded by the Academy, the French surgeon Bernard Peyrilhe, who may be considered one of the founders of experimental cancer research, demanded radical operative surgery in cases of breast cancer. Peyrilhe first formulated the principles of that surgical concept which is connected with the name of the American surgeon William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922), a concept which has long remained influential.