A possible case of palaeopathology of leukaemia from Late Antique southern Italy.

Abstract

In the past few decades, palaeo-oncology has become a novel field of research contributing to the knowledge of the natural history and evolution of carcinogenesis in ancient populations. Prevalence of cancer in the past might have differed from that in modern humans because of considerable differences in life expectancy, diet, environmental factors, and the availability of medical treatment. In evaluating cancer in ancient human remains, one must also deal with pseudopathology: whether an observed tissue change is due to an ante-mortem pathological process or to a post-mortem artefact that mimics a disease.