Cancer (Sartan) amongst women and its preventive approach in Unani system of medicine

Abstract

Cancer has been defined as, malignant growth characterized by the uninhibited proliferation of cells, often affecting healthy tissues locally or throughout the body. Cancer is not a new disease some of the cancers that most often affect women are breast, colon, endometrial, lung, cervical, skin, and ovarian cancers. The most significant risk factor for cancer is age; two-thirds of all cases were in those older than age 65 years, Owing to its high incidence in nature, it is the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular aetiology. Unani or Greek-o-Arab medicine originated in Greece about 2500 years back and is based upon the four humours theory, Unani scholars believed that the body contained four humours (Akhlaat) any imbalance of these fluids will result in disease and excess of black bile (Sauda) in a particular organ site was thought to cause cancer (Sartan). The world’s oldest recorded case of breast cancer hails from ancient Egypt in 1500 BC and it was recorded that there was no treatment for the cancer, only palliative treatment. According to inscriptions, surface tumours were surgically removed in a similar manner as they are removed today. So it is an effort through this paper to highlight the preventive measures mention in the classical Unani literature for cancer prevalent amongst females and some of the cancers can be prevented by avoiding the accumulation of abnormal humours inside the body.
 Keywords: Akhlaat, Sartan, Preventive measures, sauda