[Breast cancer in medical history]

Hippocrates, in his days, was already aware of 'karkinos' or 'karkinoma' for tumors, above all the breast. The etiology of the carcinoma of the breast was seen in the fluids of the body. The humoralistic theory persisted till the second half of the 19th century, although considerable progress in the ability of diagnoses and operating techniques had meanwhile been made. In the 19th century a classification of breast cancer was developed and the first statistical analysis presented. Although anesthesia was introduced in 1846 and antisepsis somewhat later, surgical techniques could not be improved until the 20th century, when radiotherapy and hormonal treatment were discovered. Despite all efforts made since antiquity to cure breast cancer, the medical community today is not much further than were the doctors facing the dangers of infectious disease prior to the discovery of antibiotics.