Cancer in the 1800s

Hypertrophic tumor
The unfortunate man shown in this 1870 photograph was suffering from a "hypertrophic" tumor of the head caused by neurofibromatosis - the same genetic disorder that affected John Merrick, the "Elephant Man." What had started off at birth as a small bump on the temple had grown to obscure much of the right side of the man's face by the time he turned 30. What treatment did his ophthalmologist recommend? None at all.



By the time the unfortunate man shown in this 1872 photo sought treatment, the tumor on the left side of his head had been growing for about a decade. Fearing that cutting the parotid tumor away with a scalpel might cause severe bleeding, the surgeon decided to burn it away using a "large hot iron cautery."

Parotid tumor before treatment and afterThe operation proved a big success. The man's face remained paralyzed, the surgeon noted, but his left eyelid worked well.

Vascular nevus
Doctors often declined to treat pigmented vascular lesions like the one shown in this 1869 photograph because they could bleed extensively. Less extensive lesions of this sort - known then as noevus vasculaire - sometimes were treated, with uneven results, with caustic agents and other remedies. Today such lesions can often be removed with a laser - though this one might be too big to yield perfect results. This photo was hand-tinted to add realism to the black-and-white photo.

Asphyxiated by tumors
In the 19th Century, doctors were reluctant to operate on thyroid tumors like the ones shown in this 1875 photograph. That's because the gland was so full of blood vessels that serious bleeding was a real risk. That meant some patients, like this man, faced the threat of slow asphyxiation.

Rodent cancer before surgery and after

Today basal cell carcinoma is considered a relatively benign form of skin cancer - doctors can easily remove the lesions. But in the 1800s, the cancer often went unchecked until it produced horrific injuries, like the one captured by a photographer in London in 1864. The condition was known as "rodent cancer" - and no wonder. Patients looked as if their skin had been gnawed by hungry rats.
The patient actually fared reasonably well after surgery, ultimately succumbing not to the cancer but to a fatty heart - caused, apparently, by the poor diet he had been forced to eat as a result of the loss of most of his mouth.



Until the mid-1800s, there was no anesthesia. Patients endured horrific pain, and surgeons' reputations depended upon the speed with which they could perform operations. The best could amputate an arm in one minute, a leg in three. For the photograph shown here, taken in the winter of 1846, doctors gathered at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to demonstrate the first surgical procedure involving the anesthetic sulfuric ether.