<P> The earliest known descriptions of cancer appear in several papyri from Ancient Egypt . The Edwin Smith Papyrus was written around 1600 BC ( possibly a fragmentary copy of a text from 2500 BC ) and contains a description of cancer , as well as a procedure to remove breast tumours by cauterization . It wryly observed that the disease has no treatment . </P>
when was the first case of cancer found
1600 BC ( possibly a fragmentary copy of a text from 2500 BC )