Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, News

Legislation Would Improve Care for Cancer Patients through Palliative Care Research

Cancer Research
Cancer Research

Cancer patients receiving the best medical care can still be left fending for themselves in coping with pain, stress and other auxiliary effects of treatment. A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress this past July aims to ease their burden by making palliative care more widely available.

This specialized form of care is centered on improving quality of life for patients dealing with cancer or other life-threatening diseases by helping them manage chronic symptoms associated with their illness and its treatment. Palliative care also reduces overall stress by allowing patients to be proactively involved with their healthcare team in determining the course of treatment and setting goals.

Public opinion research discovered that 70 percent of Americans are not even aware of palliative care. The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act, introduced by New York Representatives Eliot Engel and Tom Reed, aims to reduce that statistic.

The bill provides for expanded federal research into palliative care along with corresponding training for allied health care professionals. It also calls for the establishment of a nationwide awareness campaign centered on educating the public about palliative care and its benefits for patients and their families.

Palliative care can be initiated for patients of any age at any stage of their illness. According to research supported by the American Cancer Society, palliative care reduces the amount of time patients spend in intensive care while allowing them to experience greater quality of life.

The personalized therapies you receive at our Issels® immuno-oncology centers include compassionate physician treatment that extends to your aftercare. Contact us for more information.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Living with Cancer

Just Diagnosed with Cancer? Know More about Why You Have Cancer

Tackling The Side Effects
Cancer Diagnosis

Everyone understands that cancer is a disease, but many people really know nothing more about it than that. If you have recently been diagnosed, the how’s and why’s behind cancer become concerns that move to the forefront of your mind. Here are answers to some of the more common questions that arise with cancer patients. 

Who gets cancer?

The short answer is: anyone. More than 1.5 million new cases are diagnosed each year. About 78 percent occur in people aged 55 or older, but cancer can strike people of any age, race and ethnicity.

How common is cancer?

In the United States, approximately half of all men and one-third of all women will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime. Thanks to advancements in screening and treatment, survival rates are much greater than in years past.

What are the causes of cancer?

The most common causes fall under a number of different categories. Certain lifestyle choices, such as smoking and spending time outside without sunscreen, are risk factors. Outside elements like radiation and chemicals can also increase risk. Roughly five to ten percent of cancers are linked to genetics.

Some people hold the misconception that injuries can cause cancer. The disease may be uncovered during treatment for an injury, but there is no causal relationship. Stress can affect your immune system, but to date there is no evidence that it’s a direct cause of cancer.

Issels® Immuno-Oncology Centers have pioneered the use of personalized therapies that are considered the most advanced of cancer treatments. Visit our website to read and view testimonials given by our patients.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Care Tips, Living with Cancer

Cancer Patient Tip: Focus on Improving Your Quality of Life

Four hands of the family, a baby, a daughter, a mother and a father. Concept of unity, support, protection and happiness.
Use Your Support Network to Care for Yourself

When you’re fighting cancer, your physical well-being can consume your focus to the exclusion of your emotional self. Improving your quality of life helps you maintain a positive frame of mind that can have a beneficial effect on your overall health. Use these tips to nurture yourself and enrich your spirit. 

Ask for support 

Despite what you may have seen in movies or read in novels, suffering in silence is not a noble attitude. Your loved ones want to help, but may not know how. Sharing your specific needs with them is a relief, not a burden.

Retain control wherever possible

Cancer creates a sense of helplessness, making you feel as though you’re at the mercy of this foreign being. Work with your doctor and caregiver to develop lifestyle modifications allowing you to maintain as much control as you are comfortable with. 

Talk to others who have been there

Even if you have a caring network of friends and family, cancer can make you feel isolated and “different.” Join support groups where you can share your deepest thoughts without fear of judgment and benefit from the wisdom of those who have shared your experience.  

Learn to relax

The idea of learning to relax may seem strange, but the stress of living with cancer can make you forget where your “off switch” is. Music, reading, meditation and light physical activity are just some of the methods you can use to decompress.

Our non-toxic immuno-oncology therapies work with your body’s own immune system, reducing side effects that can be physically and emotionally draining. Contact us to learn more about our personalized treatments.

 

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Living with Cancer

Doorway in Blood Vessels Allows Breast Cancer to Spread Via the Blood

Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon
Breast Cancer Can Be Spread Through The Blood

What if you could literally close the door on metastasizing cancer? A recent U.S. study has discovered this doorway, and Issels® wants to let you in on the latest findings and how they might benefit your cancer treatment goals…

Escape artists
When three specific types of cells work together, cancer can escape into the blood stream. Their plan?

  • Cancer cells near blood vessels interact with macrophages, a type of white blood cell.
  • The macrophages release a protein, called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which increases the permeability or leakiness of endothelial cells in the blood vessel wall.
  • A doorway is temporarily created, through which cancer cells escape and spread into the bloodstream.

The right environment
Previously, what regulated the permeability of blood vessel walls at the escape site wasn’t clear. However thanks to the new imaging studies, the mechanism has been identified: macrophages at the tumor microenvironment of metastasis (TMEM), or TMEM macrophages.

Closing the door
While the VGEF protein produced by macrophages in the aforementioned escape process is already the target of existing cancer drugs, the recent study shows how this leakiness – cancer’s escape hatch – can be switched on and off by TMEM macrophages – the specific immune cells playing accomplice to the great escape.

A new frontier
The work performed on mice and building on previous findings from the Albert Einstein Cancer Center and Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care, could lead to new drugs for preventing the spread of cancer.

Are your ready to close the door on cancer treatment? Kick cancer out for good and throw away the key with the help of Issels® today!

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

Cancer Cells are Rogues that Dedifferentiate: An Interesting New Study

Learning About Cancer
Learning About Cancer

Issels® Center for Immuno-Oncology recently discovered an interesting study, linking the Darwinian theory of evolution to the origin of cancer. Life, a delicate web of biological compromises, can go awry with the rogue dedifferentiation of a single cell…

A harmonious cooperative
In evolutionist theory, cooperation gives rise to multicellular organisms from plants to mammals. Surrendering autonomy, single cells prosper with the whole rather than the ruthless competition of their predecessors, singular primordial cells.

Different, but the same
Cells in a healthy multicellular organism differentiate, performing specialized tasks and working for the good of the whole: skin, blood, bone cells and more benefit each other.

Getting greedy
What happens when a cell breaks loose, selfishly multiplies and expands its territory? The free-for-all of Darwin’s pond results in cancer, a selfish dedifferentiation that benefits only itself through excess reproduction and overconsumption of resources. Pathological behavior that ultimately degrades the environment to the rogue’s own advantage, but which ultimately destroys the ecosystem, resulting in its own demise.

Deadly deception
How does this result from a single rogue cell? The cancer cell divides and mutates, creating separate lineages (subclones) with different abilities. Each family of mutated cells works together to make what is necessary for the growth of the tumor, even tricking healthy cells to do their own bidding.

Is there a choice?
The study identified similar kinds of “cellular cheating” in most multicellular organisms: mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects – even in plants and fungi; an inescapable consequence of multicellularity.

Is your body’s rebellious side getting the better of you? Issels® can help bring your body back to balance. Contact us today.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, News

Off-Label Arthritis Drug Shows Promise in Blood Cancer Treatment

Nano Pills To Detect Cancer
Blood Cancer Treatments

A common drug used in the treatment of arthritis may offer a new hope for cancer patients. At one thousandth of the cost of today’s latest blood cancer treatment, Issels® wanted to let you know about this important discovery.

The arthritis drug in question:
Methotrexate. A drug commonly used to treat inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and psoriasis. A World Health Organization ‘Essential Medicine’, the drug is well-understood, and if results are confirmed, could be used for treatment throughout the developing world. A one year course of low-dose treatment: $46. The cost for a single 60 tablet bottle of the current treatment, ruxolitinib: over $9,000. It is so costly that many retail pharmacies refuse to stock it.

What is it being purported to treat?
Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Typically seen in the 50-70 age range, MPN causes an overproduction of blood cells in the body. Symptoms include night sweats, itching, and tiredness. Though ruxolitinib has been developed for the treatment of MPN, it prices itself out of the market for most patients, whose treatment is otherwise limited to aspirin, excess blood removal, and chemotherapy.

What’s next?
Though further testing following the research performed by U.K.’s University of Sheffield confirmed the results, clinical trials are now being scheduled at Royal Hallamshire Hospital. Once complete, the new course of treatment with the repurposed drug could offer financial relief not only patients, but local and regional healthcare systems as well. The study could spawn research into the repurposing of other, previously safety tested, prescription drugs.

Are your cancer treatment options overwhelming your budget? At Issels® , you have options. Contact us today.

Individualized Cancer Treatment