Tag Archives: Chemo Alternative

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

Blood Samples Being Used to Personalize Breast Cancer Treatment

Alternative Cancer Treatment
Alternative Cancer Treatment

Boston scientists are attempting to use blood samples to personalize breast cancer treatment for women with rare forms of the disease. After filtering tumor cells from patient blood samples, researchers have been studying how the cells grow and begun to experiment with possible solutions for halting cell growth. The new technique has the potential to allow “real time monitoring” of tumor changes and usher in a new era of individually designed cancer treatments.

“Tumors change, and from the time that a woman is diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer that needs to be treated to the time that multiple treatments have worked and stop working, the tumors have evolved,” Dr. Daniel Haber of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center recently told the Boston Globe.

Real Time Monitoring

The new technique would allow oncologists to monitor tumor development and treatment resistance in real time and make treatment adjustments more quickly, hopefully preventing the spread of cancer and hastening the administration of more effective targeted therapies. The ability to track such changes through blood tests could also spare breast cancer patients the trauma of multiple invasive biopsies.

When Cancer Cells Circulate

The circulation of cancer cells in the blood stream is considered a strong indicator that cancer is spreading beyond the original tumor site. Cancer cell circulation is also believed to be a primary mechanism for metastasis. The ability to track the real time emergence of cancer cell mutations through blood samples is still a work in progress. While intriguing, researchers were only able to culture cancer cells in one-sixth of the blood samples.

Visit our website to learn about Issels personalized treatment programs for breast and other cancers.

Cancer Care Tips, Living with Cancer

Understanding Your Diagnosis of Cancer

Getting The News
Getting The News

Our greatest fears usually arise not from actual incidents, but from the unknown. Your mind begins running through a series of increasingly dire scenarios that may not even be realistic. If you’ve recently received a diagnosis of cancer, understanding what’s behind it can empower you to be proactive about your care and treatment.

Early diagnosis of cancer is an important element of successful treatment. Some types, such as skin or breast, may be detected through self-examination or various medical screenings. Others are revealed via corresponding symptoms or as a result of treating another condition. This is why it’s important to keep up with annual physicals and other preventive care, even if you’re feeling healthy.

Your caregiver’s first step will be a comprehensive physical exam and thorough review of your medical history. Tests are performed on blood, stool and urine to find any abnormalities that may point toward cancer. If signs present themselves, your physician will order further tests such as CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or ultrasound to pinpoint the location and size of the tumor. Final confirmation comes from a biopsy, which involves removing a tissue sample from the tumor to check for the presence of cancerous cells.

A positive diagnosis leads to the step known as staging. This process involves gathering specific information about the tumor, most importantly whether it’s localized or the cells have spread to other parts of the body. You should also get a second opinion from a specialist before proceeding with treatment.

At Issels alternative cancer treatment center, our integrative approach is tailored to your individual needs. Please visit our website to learn more about our successful non-toxic immunotherapy treatments.

Cancer Research

Are You “Dying” to Get Your Nails Done?

The Nails
The Nails

Are you risking cancer every time you get your nails done? The ultraviolet drying lamps used by nail salons are the heated subject of a long-running cancer debate that may finally have been put to rest.

Dangers of UV Light

At the heart of the controversy is the UVA light emitted by nail drying lamps. Ultraviolet light from the sun is composed of two kinds of light. UVB light generally affects the surface of the skin, causing sunburn; but it also suppresses the immune system which can leave sun worshippers more vulnerable to skin cancer. Considered more dangerous and a potent carcinogen is UVA light which penetrates more deeply into the skin, aging skin cells and damaging their DNA. The result is premature aging, the development of wrinkles and increased risk of skin cancer.

The proven link between prolonged exposure to UVA rays and increased risk of skin cancer and melanoma is behind the Food and Drug Administration’s recent campaign to warn consumers, particularly teens and young adults, about the potential dangers of using tanning beds and sunlamps.

Are Nail Salons a Cancer Risk?

While nail salon drying lamps do emit the UVA light associated with skin cancer, a definitive new study found little skin cancer risk from the brief exposure experienced during the average nail salon visit. However, researchers do recommend reducing risk by treating hands with sunscreen before going under the drying lamp. To further protect consumers, researchers also recommend federal standardization of salon drying lamp UVA output.

Our advice: Next time you visit the nail salon take along a tube of sunscreen to apply before sticking you hands under the drying light!

Cancer Care Tips, Cancer Research, Cancer Survivors

Vitamin D and the Cancer Connection

Vitamin D To Reduce Risks of Cancer
Vitamin D To Reduce Risks of Cancer

Does Vitamin D offer hope for alternative cancer therapy? A new study in the journal Clinical Cancer Research suggests low blood levels of this vitamin may be linked to more aggressive, advanced cases of prostate cancer in men.

What we do know…
Vitamin D effects how cells develop and grow, regulating the differentiation of cells as they change from stem to adult cells, and regulating the growth rate of normal and cancer cells. The skin makes it when exposed to sunlight, however Vitamin D levels are known to decline with age, in certain seasons and climates, and in individuals with darker skin, which naturally blocks sunlight.

What we don’t know…
Researches haven’t yet proved a cause-and-effect relationship, and don’t yet understand how Vitamin D comes into play. They are also unsure if taking extra might reduce prostate cancer risks and offer natural cancer treatment and prevention.

What the study shows:
Among the 667 Chicago men ages 40-79 studied with abnormal prostate screenings, the majority were found to be Vitamin D deficient. In addition, among those testing positive for cancer, those with very low levels were at greater risk of advanced, aggressive varieties. In addition, black men were more likely to be diagnosed.

What about Vitamin D’s relationship to cancer?
At this point, scientists only know that the rate of prostate cell growth (in a petri dish) slows when Vitamin D is added to the mix. They are now theorizing that too little of this vitamin may cause cell growth to go awry, leading to cancer.

Researchers admit larger, more extensive studies are necessary to examine the possible connection and address the many unanswered questions prompted by the research.

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.

 

Cancer Research, Immunotherapy

What Is the Immunobiologic Core Treatment?

Immune System Building
Immune System Building

Issels immunobiologic core treatment for cancer is grounded in two cancer truths:

Truth #1: The Immune System Must Be Engaged

Cancer is not a one note disease that can be stopped with an antibiotic. Cancer is a symphony of diseases that affect the body in myriad ways. Cancer’s complexity is the reason traditional treatment methods often fail to achieve complete, long-term remission.

Researchers have begun to recognize what Issels cancer specialists have known for decades: The most effective cancer treatment results come from engaging the immune system to battle cancer cells. Unlike surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation which destroy healthy cells along with cancer cells immunotherapy works with the body, strengthening and supporting the body’s natural defense system.

Heralded by new Western medicine converts as “a whole new realm of medicine” and the “cancer protocol for the future,” integrative immunotherapy promotes the use of multiple beneficial therapies to bolster the immune system, enabling the body’s natural ability to destroy cancer tumors and the surrounding tumor microenvironment that drives cancer’s growth and spread.

Truth #2: Each Patient’s Biology Is Unique

The words “standard treatment” have no real meaning where cancer is concerned. Each cancer patient’s biology is unique. Differences in inherited genetic predisposition, medical history, environmental exposure, and lifestyle choices play important roles in an individual patient’s response to cancer and cancer treatment.

Issels cancer treatment centers use exacting testing methods, including genomic testing, to develop comprehensive treatment strategies that are personalized to meet the specific needs of each individual patient.

It is our ability to tailor immunotherapy to each patient’s unique biologic needs that has made our immunobiologic core treatment so successful for many cancer patients.