PCa in Antiquity.

[pjoshea13]

New paper below.

A great curiosity to me has been the lack of evidence of PCa as a significant historical issue - indeed, of it being any sort of issue - in spite of the prostate being long recognized as the bane of the aging male. The literature on problems of the prostate is quite rich. But doctors describing diseased prostates were describing BPH - not PCa.

With Google Books, one can read textbooks written be eminent urologists in the 1800s & find very few references to cancer. Sometimes, there is an outright denial that the cancer even occurs. In a couple of instances, authors report anecdotal cases related by other urologists. By the 1890s, PCa is beginning to be described, but certainly not as a common condition. By the 1990s it is said that every man would die with it if he lived long enough.

PCa is distinctive in that it often progresses to osteoblastic (rather than osteolytic) lesions. Such lesions are rarely seen in ancient bones, which makes an instance worthy of a paper in the International Journal of Paleopathology. How many PCa doctors will see it?

"There is great interest in the history and occurrence of human cancer in antiquity and particularly in ancient Egyptian populations. Despite the number of Egyptian mummies and skeletons studied through various means, evidence of primary or metastatic cancer lesions is rare. The Digital Radiography and Multi Detector Computerized Tomography (MDCT) scans of a male Ptolemaic Egyptian mummy, from the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (MNA) in Lisbon displayed several focal dense bone lesions located mainly on the spine, pelvis and proximal extremities. The exceptional detail of the MDCT images allowed the proposed diagnosis of osteoblastic metastatic disease, with the prostate being the main hypothesis of origin. These radiologic findings in a wrapped mummy, to the best of our knowledge, have never previously been documented, and could be one of the oldest evidence of this disease, as well as being the cause of death."

I read this as, not that PCa has always been with us, but that it was never remotely as common as it became in the 20th century.

...

Some might say that ancient men died young, & many did of course, but enough men reached an age where BPH became a problem. An inability to urinate tends to grab the attention.

-Patrick

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/295...

Int J Paleopathol. 2011 Oct;1(2):98-103. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2011.09.002. Epub 2011 Oct 2.

Prostate metastatic bone cancer in an Egyptian Ptolemaic mummy, a proposed radiological diagnosis.

Prates C1, Sousa S1, Oliveira C1, Ikram S2.

Author information

1

IMI, Imagens Médicas Integradas, Av. da República 99 B, 1050-190 Lisbon, Portugal.

2

The American University in Cairo, 113 Kasr El Aini Street, P.O. Box 2511, Cairo 11511, Egypt.

Abstract

There is great interest in the history and occurrence of human cancer in antiquity and particularly in ancient Egyptian populations. Despite the number of Egyptian mummies and skeletons studied through various means, evidence of primary or metastatic cancer lesions is rare. The Digital Radiography and Multi Detector Computerized Tomography (MDCT) scans of a male Ptolemaic Egyptian mummy, from the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (MNA) in Lisbon displayed several focal dense bone lesions located mainly on the spine, pelvis and proximal extremities. The exceptional detail of the MDCT images allowed the proposed diagnosis of osteoblastic metastatic disease, with the prostate being the main hypothesis of origin. These radiologic findings in a wrapped mummy, to the best of our knowledge, have never previously been documented, and could be one of the oldest evidence of this disease, as well as being the cause of death.

PMID: 29539324 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2011.09.002

[timfiskwa]

I chock it up to man made plastics and chemicals saturating our environment. Processed foods and the stresses of modern life may also contribute.

[petercraig2]

I agree that we seems to have created an environment that is favourable to all cancers. The published stats indicate all types of cancers are increasing at an exponential rate. I suspect it is a combination of the crap we put in the air, the water, the quality of the food we eat and a sedentary lifestyle.

It's a hard one to backpeddle out of but for us we can only focus on having a good diet, plenty of exercise, share the knowledge of supplements and strategies that have proven to be successful.

There may be a 'magic bullet' out there but not sure big pharma or our economy/politicians would want that and a risk to a multi trillioin dollar business.

We've got so many new drug therapies now that combined with self advocacy and common sense I'm probably very lucky but feeling pretty optimistic that I'll die with it but not because of it.

Peter

[Emak1]

I don’t disagree we are not helping our health with chemicals and diet

But life expectancy is a lot longer and medical detection is a lot better. Cancer, esp most PCa takes a long time to develop. Most, not all hence this board

Thousand plus years ago people were done by 40/45. Those that lived longer are like the genetic lottery winners of today who are 100+, aware. Fairly active. Etc

But our modern environment does add variables that could promote cancer

[pjoshea13 in reply to Emak1]

I should't bring religion into this, but it's difficult to get info about ancient life expectancy - so I will quote the Bible:

"The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

The probability of a newborn male attaining age 70 has generally been dismal by today's standards, but if one were to survive infancy, childhood diseases, war, famine & bad luck, 70 wouldn't be an unreasonable goal.

Ancient Greeks who reached 70:

- Socrates c. 470 – 399 BC

- Plato 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC

- Pythagoras c. 570 – c. 495 BC

- Hippocrates c. 460 – c. 370 BC

...

While there are many who blame PCa on lifestyle, our problems may have begun at a very early age, & even in the womb. Exposure to growth hormones is a risk factor, so affluence, & never experiencing a famine might increase risk. Tall men have higher risk.

But what intrigues me is heritable epigenetic risk factors. For example, exposure to cadmium can affect prostatic cells, & epigenetic changes caused by cadmium can be passed on to offspring. The appetite for copper starting in the mid-1800s caused a lot of cadmium to end up in air, water & soil. In America, cadmium (always found with zinc & copper) was not not separated until WWI - it was easier to buy what was needed from Germany.

Everyone has their favorite explanation for why they might have developed PCa.

-Patrick

[j-o-h-n]

Too much sex!

Good Luck and Good Health.

j-o-h-n Sunday 03/18/2018 1:08 PM EDT