Binder Michaela, Roberts Charlotte, Spencer Neal, Antoine Daniel, Cartwright Caroline
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom.
Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, British Museum, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2014 Mar 17;9(3):e90924. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090924. eCollection 2014.
Cancer, one of the world's leading causes of death today, remains almost absent relative to other pathological conditions, in the archaeological record, giving rise to the conclusion that the disease is mainly a product of modern living and increased longevity. This paper presents a male, young-adult individual from the archaeological site of Amara West in northern Sudan (c. 1200 BC) displaying multiple, mainly osteolytic, lesions on the vertebrae, ribs, sternum, clavicles, scapulae, pelvis, and humeral and femoral heads. Following radiographic, microscopic and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) imaging of the lesions, and a consideration of differential diagnoses, a diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma secondary to an unknown soft tissue cancer is suggested. This represents the earliest complete example in the world of a human who suffered metastatic cancer to date. The study further draws its strength from modern analytical techniques applied to differential diagnoses and the fact that it is firmly rooted within a well-documented archaeological and historical context, thus providing new insights into the history and antiquity of the disease as well as its underlying causes and progression.
癌症是当今世界主要死因之一，但在考古记录中，与其他病理状况相比，癌症却几乎不存在，由此得出结论：这种疾病主要是现代生活和寿命延长的产物。本文介绍了一名来自苏丹北部阿马拉西考古遗址（约公元前1200年）的年轻成年男性个体，其脊椎、肋骨、胸骨、锁骨、肩胛骨、骨盆以及肱骨头和股骨头出现多处主要为溶骨性的病变。在对病变进行放射成像、显微镜检查和扫描电子显微镜（SEM）成像，并考虑鉴别诊断后，建议诊断为继发于不明软组织癌的转移性癌。这是迄今为止世界上最早的一例患转移性癌症的完整人类病例。该研究的优势还在于应用现代分析技术进行鉴别诊断，且它深深扎根于有充分文献记载的考古和历史背景之中，从而为该疾病的历史和古代情况以及其潜在病因和发展进程提供了新的见解。
