A Persian queen, Atossa, who lived in 500 BC likely had breast cancer; treatments for her cancer would have been different throughout history. In Atossa 's own time she would have had a crude mastectomy. In Egypt, 2500 BC, her illness is known and pronounced to have no known cure; it was named a karkinos in 300 BC by Hippocrates. This means crab and it will later be translated to the Latin word for crab; cancer. AD 168, Claudius Galen thinks cancer is caused by black bile that is trapped and for a thousand years Atossa 's treatment is the purging of black bile, all the while her tumor grows and spreads. Medieval doctors know little; they cut, offer holy water, animal byproducts, and chemical treatments. By 1778 John Hunter 's clinic in London assigns Atossa 's cancer a stage, and for early, localized cancer a local operation is recommended. …show more content…
The nineteenth century is a new age, and it is one of surgery. In a Baltimore clinic in 1890, Atossa would be given a radical mastectomy which removes the tumor along with deep chest muscles. She is treated with X-rays in the early twentieth century and then in the 1950s, her cancer is treated with both a mastectomy and radiation. The 1970s follow her surgery up with chemotherapy to reduce the chance of relapse and when her tumor tests positive for the estrogen receptor, Tamoxifen is also added to her treatment. It is hard to say for sure but it is estimated that seventeen to thirty years could have been added to her life. By the '90s it is discovered that Atossa has a gene mutation so her daughters are also tested as a way to get ahead of the invasive breast cancer. Theoretically, in 2050 a flash drive and a computer may detect every mutation in every gene; targeted drugs will likely be administered to Atossa for the rest of her