Hippocrates (ca 460-370 BC) on nasal cancer

Abstract

The prevalence of cancer in antiquity is rather an unknown scientific field. Nevertheless, During the 5th century BC, Hippocrates and his followers, studied thoroughly this fatal disease and proposed surgical techniques and palliative drugs to confront and treat the malignant tumors caused by the black bile (the 4 humors theory). Inside Corpus Hippocraticum, nasal cancer was mentioned, alongside with its treatment. Local surgical excision, cautherization, drugs to relief the pain and face possible metastases combined with a possible pessary technique and endotracheal intubation, have been employed by the physicians of the era.