Cancer has been present as a disease from time immemorial.

However, it was in 1775, when Percivall Pott, a British surgeon, was the first person to identify the cause of cancer. Pott was instrumental in identifying that scrotum cancer was highly prevalent in Britain among chimney sweeps.Finally with the discovery of the microscope and its use in the 18th century, doctors and researchers managed to figure out that cancer could travel from its primary location through the lymph to other parts of the body. This was first suggest by Campbell De Morgan, an English surgeon, in 1871 and then again in 1874. In those days, when doctors tried to remove cancerous tumors from the body, the results were not very good because of poor hygiene. However, in the 19th century, with improved hygiene during surgeries saw the survival rate among cancer patients increasing.

Towards the latter half of the 19th century, Marie Curie and Pierre Curie were instrumental in discovering radiation. This gave impetus to cancer treatment as it did not require the patients to undergo surgery. As a result, surgeons now had to work with radiologists and that too in hospital settings. This further led to information of patients being compiled in the hospital, and as a result the first statistical studies on cancer patients were possible.

Today, even after so many decades, researchers have not been able to find a cure for the disease. However, research in cancer is ongoing, and with awareness, early detection of the disease has increased the survival rate among patients afflicted with cancer. One can say definitely that from the initial stages when cancer was first discovered, the treatment protocols and measures taken to help cancer patients and their family have come a long way.

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