Treating the incurables: Cancer asylums in 18th and 19th century

For centuries several hypotheses were formulated on cancer's pathogenesis such as contagiousness, melancholy, heredity and sexuality. In the 18th and 19th century, despite the advent of medical thought and practice, cancer was considered an incurable and contagious disease. Hospitals were refusing to treat cancer patients while the social stigma which followed the disease made primordial the need for the establishment of special institutions. In our article we will present the cancer asylums which counterbalanced the prejudices of the time and contributed to the establishment of modern cancer hospitals.