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The oldest description of cancer was discovered in Egypt and dates back to about 3000 BC. Some of the earliest evidence of cancer is found among fossilized bone tumors, human mummies in ancient Egypt, and ancient manuscripts.
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400 B.C.: Hippocrates uses the term karcinos to describe tumors. Karcinos evolved into cancer.
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The radioactive substance, radium was discovered. It is now used to treat some types of cancer.
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Physicists Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium and later use it to effectively treat tumors.
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Radiotherapy—use of radiation to kill cancer cells or stop them dividing—was developed as a treatment.
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Chemotherapy—use of drugs to treat cancer—was tested
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Chemotherapy records its first, though temporary, success with the remission of a pediatric leukemia patient.
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Mammorgram: X-ray-based image that has been proved to detect a majority of breast cancers
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A large majority of children with cancer survive.
Prior to 1975, fewer than one in two children diagnosed with cancer survived five years. Today, more than 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer survive at least five years. -
About 11 million cancer survivors are living in the United States.
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Cancer survivors reach 12 million, a fourfold increase since 1971 and a 20 percent increase since 2001.