Description

"Cancer is that awful word we all fear when we go to the doctor for a physical exam, but in that brief dark moment we hear it the world we live in and the people we share it with begin to illuminate; things we did not even pay attention to." BD Phillips Cancer As we all know that it is a disease. But, is this just another disease? No It is not. The moment one utters the word 'cancer', a whirlwind of feelings run through our minds. Medically cancer refers to a disease caused by uncontrolled proliferation of body cells, but psychologically it seems something far more negative than that. Despite so much progress in modern day treatment, for most of the people the word cancer suggests a wild, uncontrolled proliferation of cells that would lead to painful and slow death. There is little doubt that in most people a diagnosis of cancer evokes a dread which is greater than other diseases carrying equally serious and even worse prognosis (McIntosh, 1974). 1.1. ORIGIN OF THE TERM CANCER The "Father of Medicine" Hippocrates (Greek Physician: 460-370 BC) is credited with the origin of the word cancer. Hippocrates used two different terms, carcinos and carcinoma while describing non-ulcerous and ulcerous tumours. In Greek, these words refer to a crab. The Roman physician, Celsus (28-50 BC), later used the term cancer, which is again the Latin word for crab. It seems that all the terms, whether Greek or Latin, that are used to describe this illness refer to 'crab', partially because, "cancer adheres to any part that it seizes upon in an obstinate manner like a crab." Another possible explanation of the name is that the finger like projections protruding from an affected site may remind one of crab. Later another Greek physician, Galen (130-200 AD), coined the word oncos, which is the Greek term for swelling, while describing tumours and this term is now widely used to refer to professionals associated with the field of cancer,