Medicine and oncology. Illustrated history

For many years the Middle Ages were considered to be a period characterized by the collapse of the Greek-Roman civilisation, urban depopulation, castles and sombre cathedrals, abbeys and monasteries where the literate men and women were confined. Teaching and practice of Hippocratic-Galenic scientific medicine, as well as the medical thread that had been woven in previous centuries, threatened of being overwhelmed by the fall of the Western Roman Empire. But Galen succeeded in surviving since, like Aristotle, he had an answer for everything and both were accepted by the Christian world. Early medieval medicine was not as brilliant as that practiced during the period of the divine Galen, but Greek and Latin medical manuscripts were nevertheless preserved, studied and copied. With the advent of Islam they were translated into Arabic and, in the subsequent Latin version, they formed the foundation of the science and philosophy in Europe starting in the 11th century. That period also saw the rebirth of rational medicine, first in the Medical School of Salerno and then in the universities and hospitals. This volume of Medicine and Oncology presents a captivating story written with scientific rigour and accuracy in a simple and flowing prose. The book is an inexhaustible mine of information about the medical thought of over a millennium, as well as a feast for the eyes with its elegant illustrations. Like the previous volumes, it is addressed to doctors, scholars, and all those who are interested in this subject and wish to learn more. Massimo Lopez was Director of the Division of Medical Oncology of the Regina Elena Institute for Cancer Research in Rome and Professor of Oncology at the 1st School of Specialisation in Oncology at Sapienza University, Rome. He has published over 200 articles in the most important scientific journals in Italy and abroad and written several books, including a monograph on breast cancer, one on GIST, and the manual of practical medical oncology that bears his name.