Cancer Research, Living with Cancer

More Breast Cancer Myths and Facts

Breast Cancer Myths BustedAwareness Month
Breast Cancer Myths Busted

Twenty-five years ago breast cancer was considered a fatal diagnosis. But medical advancements and aggressive screening programs have resulted in a dramatic 34% drop in fatality rates and an astounding 98% increase in five-year survival rates. There are now more than 2.9 million breast cancer survivors enjoying life in America today!

Despite the amount of publicity breast cancer generates, many myths remain. Today, we continue our previous post separating fact from myth:

Truth About Mastectomy

Myth: Preventive mastectomy is the best way to prevent breast cancer if you carry the BRCA gene mutation.

Fact: Many cancer treatment experts feel that actress Angelina Jolie’s highly publicized decision to have both breasts removed after discovering that she carries the BRCA mutation did women a disservice. In the wake of her decision, fear of BRCA soared along with demand for preventive mastectomies.

Each breast cancer case is as unique as the woman it affects and demands a personalized approach to treatment. Treatment decisions should not based on the celebrity decisions but should be made in consultation with your cancer specialist. Mastectomy is only one breast cancer treatment option and is not warranted in many cases, even for women who carry the BRCA genetic mutation.

Better Treatment Options

Myth: Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are the only ways to treat breast cancer.

Fact: The debilitating side effects of traditional cancer treatments have more breast cancer patients turning to integrated immunotherapy, either as a primary or complementary treatment. In combination with traditional treatments, many immunotherapy patients experience fewer and less severe side effects, faster recovery and better health after treatment.

Visit our website to find out more about immunotherapy treatments for cancer.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Living with Cancer, Uncategorized

Breast Cancer Myths and Facts

Breast Cancer Information
Breast Cancer Information

One in eight American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime. Despite its prevalence, the chances of surviving breast cancer have improved dramatically over the past decade. But old myths still abound. Get the facts below:

Not Just for Women

Myth: Only women get breast cancer.

Fact: While breast cancer strikes women far more frequently than men, more than 2,000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. By comparison, more than 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer annually, about one every two minutes.

Myth: Breast cancer only strikes older women.

Fact: While it is true that breast cancer risk increases with age, breast cancer can strike women of any age. The median age for breast cancer diagnosis in the U.S. is 61 for white women and 57 for black women; but with average life expectancies in the mid-80s, cancer survivors can expect to enjoy many years of active life.

Better Survival Rates

Myth: Breast cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer death among American women.

Fact: Lung cancer claims the lives of more U.S. women annually than breast cancer, but breast cancer is the top cancer killer of women between the ages of 40 and 59. Breast cancer kills more than 40,000 American women each year.

Myth: Few women survive breast cancer.

Fact: Your chances of surviving breast cancer have never been better. Early detection and improvements in breast cancer treatment have pushed breast cancer fatality rates down 34% since 1990. When detected early, the five-year survival rate has soared to 98%. More than 2.9 million breast cancer survivors are living and thriving in America today.

More myth-busters next time

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

Novel Treatment May Be Successful Treating Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer Treatment
Lung Cancer Treatment

Under pressure to develop treatments for recurrent cancers with a high rate of fatality, cancer researchers are revisiting old treatment strategies to see if the application of new medical techniques and improved medical technology might make these strategies viable cancer treatment options again. Repeat radiation is one of these old treatments undergoing new life.

High Risk of Injury is a Problem

Significant improvement in the precision of radiation targeting has led a small number of cancer centers to experiment with repeat radiation on Stage 4 lung cancer patients who are out of options. Re-irradiation uses high-level doses of radiation but employs new techniques to tightly target the tumor and minimize damage to surrounding tissues. Despite precautions, repeat radiation does carry a high risk of serious injury to the patent which seems to be the reason few cancer centers are experimenting with the procedure.

No Risk Alternatives for Continued Lung Cancer Treatment

Using another treatment on the comeback trail, lung cancer patients undergoing non-toxic autologous cancer treatments are achieving positive results without re-irradiation’s considerable risks. Autologous cancer vaccines that use the patient’s own blood to boost immune system function have been used with success at Issels alternative cancer treatment centers for decades. Although the use of autologous vaccines has been in use for decades, it is back in the spotlight in the wake of new discoveries revealing the complicated cellular interactions between cancer tumors and immune system cells.

Stage 4 Lung Cancer Remission Success

Despite its effectiveness among various cancers and stages, individualized integrative immunotherapy is another cancer treatment strategy that has been gaining traction in mainstream cancer medicine. Find out more about how integrative immunotherapy is being used to successfully combat Stage 4 lung cancer.

Cancer Care Tips, Living with Cancer

Chemotherapy Patients Can Retain Dignity and Beauty

Wigs
Wigs

Faced with a cancer diagnosis, the biggest fear among many patients is losing their hair. There are however alternatives to losing your full head of hair. Cool Caps during chemotherapy and fashion and designer wigs are just two great choices. One respected wig source for chemotherapy patients provides an extensive collection of designer medical wigs specially designed to cradle the sensitive scalps of chemotherapy patients while giving them confidence in their appearance.

Heartbreaking Hair Loss

For many cancer patients, hair loss is the most emotionally devastating side effect of chemotherapy. Our hair is such an important part of our self-image that losing it can be heartbreaking, shattering our sense of attractiveness. In most cases, hair grows back within a year, but it may not look or feel the way it did before.

Chemo Can Change Hair Quality

After chemotherapy, many patients find that when their hair grows back it has changed in texture, fullness and sometimes even color. After waiting so long to look like your old self again, the changes to your hair can be another disappointing blow. A beautifully styled wig can not only restore your confidence in your appearance and give you a huge emotional boost during chemotherapy, it can also allow you to return to the look and hair style you loved before cancer. In other words, if nature doesn’t cooperate, a beautiful fashion wig can make you feel beautiful again!

Chemo Wig Tips

If you are a chemotherapy patient, use these tips from the experts to choose the right medical wig for you:

  1. Choose a light-weight wig that won’t place too much pressure on your tender scalp.
  2. Baby your tender scalp by choosing a wig that is soft to the touch.
  3. Choose a monofilament wig for its superior breathability.

It could be that conventional cancer treatment is not the “right” path for you and you would like to consider alternative cancer treatment options. At Issels, patients undergoing immunotherapy treatment will typically not experience hair loss. Other options including cancer vaccines and our immunobiologic core program boost your immune system to fight your cancer without the side effects of toxic medication. If you would like to find out about treatment options that have no dreaded side effects such as hair loss, we invite you to visit the Issels website to find out more about our specialized advanced cancer treatments that are kinder to your body.

Immunotherapy, Living with Cancer

Using Your Own Immune Cells to Fight Cancer

Immune Cells
Immune Cells

In several research studies that employed a cancer patient’s own immune cells against her cancer, news reports have called the results “unprecedented” and “miraculous.” If researchers seem surprised by the power of the body’s own immune system to fight cancer, it is because the mainstream Western cancer community has only recently begun to recognize and harness the considerable cancer-fighting benefits of alternative cancer treatments such as immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy Results

Called a “game-changer,” immunotherapy is producing some truly amazing results:

  • Her tumors “melted away.” A woman with a deadly form of cancer that had metastasized to her bile duct, liver and lungs despite traditional treatment saw her tumors “melt away” after immunotherapy. Researchers identified tumor-invading T cells in her immune system that would attack a critical mutation in her cancer cells. Billions of these T cells were manufactured in the lab and infused into her bloodstream. While the woman’s cancer has not disappeared, her tumors are shrinking at an amazing rate and she is hopeful for the first time in years.
  • Cancer-free in 5 months. Another woman whose body was riddled with tumors from metastasized cervical cancer now appears to be cancer-free after a similar immunotherapy treatment. After isolating the immune system cells that were attacking her tumors, researchers multiplied the cells in the lab and infused billions of them back into her body. Just five months after treatment, the woman’s cancer scans started coming back clean and have remained cancer-free for 17 months and counting.

Issels Integrative Oncology has 60 years experience using immunotherapy to fight cancer. Call our alternative cancer treatment centers for information about our T cell treatments and immune system-boosting cancer vaccines.

 

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

How Is Hyperthermia Used in the Treatment of Cancer Tumors?

Thermal Treatment
Thermal Treatment

Heat is one of the body’s primary defense mechanisms against disease. It is the reason you run a fever when you’re fighting the flu or an infection. Heating cells well beyond their normal tolerance can eliminate the harmful substances that are making you ill.

What Is Hyperthermia?

Hyperthermia, also called Thermal Therapy, is rooted in this natural defensive strategy and can be a valuable component of integrative cancer treatment. In hyperthermia, the entire body or the diseased portions of the body are purposefully heated to produce a therapeutic response.

When administered by Issels experienced cancer treatment teams as part of our immunobiologic core treatment for cancer, hyperthermia has produced beneficial results for many cancer patients. The healing technique is used not only at Issels Centers for Integrative Oncology, but also at a number of well-known university hospital centers in the U.S. and Europe.

History of Hyperthermia

The use of fever therapy can be traced back to the early Greeks and Romans. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote, “Give me the power to produce fever, and I will cure all disease.”

Over the centuries, fever therapy has been a common disease treatment used by Native Americans, Chinese, Japanese and 18th century Europeans. In the 19th century, German physicians saw sarcoma regression or cure in patients who had endured high fevers from infectious diseases.

Hyperthermia and Cancer

Hyperthermia continues to be a valid disease-fighting treatment. Beginning in the 1950s, our founder Dr. Josef M. Issels administered fever therapy to thousands of cancer patients with remarkable results. There is continued and strong evidence that hyperthermia stimulates and regulates the immune system and is especially beneficial to cancer patients.

Visit our website to find out more about hyperthermia and other alternative cancer treatments.

Individualized Cancer Treatment