Tag Archives: Pancreatic Cancer

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Immuno-Oncology

Foundation Works to Create Pancreatic Cancer Awareness

Creating Awareness
Creating Awareness

Next week in November we celebrate Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know that in the U.S. pancreatic cancer comprises just 3 percent of cancer cases, yet it accounts for 7 percent of fatalities? For those affected by the disease, information and support can be harder to find compared to more common forms of cancer.

When Herb Kosten passed away in 2003, his family decided to form an organization to provide support and awareness for pancreatic disease in the Memphis area. The foundation has also provided half a million dollars in research funding to a local university.

As the late Kosten’s brother Alan says, the family could find no information about pancreatic cancer besides what the doctor told them.

As proponents of individualized care and integrative immuno-oncology, we at Issels® support the idea that fighting cancer takes groundbreaking research as well as a holistic approach to patient care. In addition to funding research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the Herb Kosten Foundation hosts a support group for patients and family members. As the only pancreatic cancer support group within hundreds of miles, this provides a major source of comfort and empowerment to people who need it.

Treatment for pancreatic cancer often involves a difficult surgery that takes an entire day and often leads to complications. With a mortality rate around 90 percent, those affected by the disease seek to rally awareness and support for additional research in the quest for a cure.

At the Issels® Center for Integrative Immuno-Oncology, we continue to seek and improve personalized non-toxic treatments for pancreatic cancer and other aggressive forms of the disease. Contact us today to find out about our non-toxic treatments that combine immunotherapy and other alternative options available.

Cancer Research, Living with Cancer, Testimonials

New Research Tackles Chemotherapy Side Effects

Tackling The Side Effects
Tackling The Side Effects

Researches at Wichita State University are delving into nanotechnology in an effort to decrease the negative side effects cancer drugs have on patients. The technology will be a huge boon to patients suffering the many side effects of cancer treatment: nausea, bowel issues, hair loss, infections, pain, anemia, and more, preventing patients’ bodies from being further weakened by the treatment of the disease.

Technology 100,000 times smaller than a strand of hair
The mighty but miniscule technology has been developed to magnetically target drugs with the goal of localizing treatment effects specifically to tumor sites, thus decreasing the spread and negative effects of the drugs throughout the body.

Positive results have researchers hopeful
Targeted for patients with skin and breast cancer, “in vitro” (petri dish/test tube) studies as well as “in vivo,” studies involving mice, have shown positive results. The group, including WSU professors Ramazan Asmatulu, Paul Wooley, Shang-You Yang, and several graduate students, is in the final stages of receiving a patent from the study, which will later be tried on humans.

How it works
Nanocomposite, magnetic microspheres were created which are capable of carrying protein-based chemotherapy drugs. The spheres are later incorporated with an albumin and biodegradable polymer and injected into the body. With the help of a magnetic field, the accumulation of drugs can be increased at targeted cancer sites.

Looking for cancer treatment options that help build your body without the weakening effects of traditional therapies? Issels® can help. Learn more about our individualized, comprehensive immunotherapy treatments today.

Cancer Care Tips, Living with Cancer, News

Tips to Weathering Chemotherapy

Getting Through Chemotherapy
Getting Through Chemotherapy

When you go through cancer treatments, you’re not alone. Here are some great suggestions to help weather chemotherapy:

Know how to manage the nausea. Feeling ill and vomiting are the worst parts of chemotherapy for most people. Spread out your eating across many small meals instead of three regular meals, avoid beverages during mealtimes, and eat slowly.

Try out meditation and emotional exercises. Being in control of your emotions can help when side effects hit. Don’t be afraid to address your emotional hurdles through meditation, talk therapy, and alternative medicines.

Be prepared to try new foods. Many people undergoing chemo feel like foods taste different, even common and favorite foods. If what you eat tastes odd or foul, branch out and try lots of things—even foods you typically dislike—and find what works.

Stick with healthy foods to feel your best. Cupcakes may be tempting, but most people do best when avoiding junk foods, sweets, fatty foods, and fried foods. These treats should remain treats, while a generally healthy diet will keep you feeling best.

Get some hats, including one with a wide brim. Before chemotherapy, you may wish to shave your head and get a wig. Find some hats, too, including warm and comfy ones for when you feel chilly and a wide-brimmed hat to help with sun protection.

See the dentist first. Teeth cleanings are a bad idea during chemotherapy, so see the dentist a few weeks beforehand and use saltwater rinses to gently help with sores.

We’re also here to help with individualized, holistic treatments. Talk to us if you’re interested in learning about alternative cancer treatment options.

Living with Cancer

Tips to Weathering Radiation

Getting Through Chemo
Getting Through Chemo

Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill fast-growing cancer cells. But, as with other traditional cancer treatments, radiation also damages many healthy cells. This collateral damage can cause numerous aggravating side effects.

Boost Your Immune System

Side effects usually begin during or within the first six months following radiation treatment and may continue for months, sometimes years, after treatment ends. Maintaining a healthy immune system before, during and after radiation can help prevent or minimize adverse reactions and shorten their duration.

Many cancer patients benefit from a combination of radiation and integrative immunotherapy. Immunotherapy kicks your immune system into overdrive, allowing your body to fight cancer cells more effectively during treatment. Immunotherapy may also help prevent cancer recurrence.

Managing Radiation Side Effects

Use these cancer care tips to weather the most common radiation side effects:

  • Fatigue. Sleep and rest as much as possible. Eating a healthy diet and exercising can help boost energy and improve stamina.
  • Skin changes. Redness, dryness, itching, peeling and blistering may occur around the treatment site. To prevent irritation, wear soft, loose clothing. Bathing in lukewarm water can be soothing. Cover up and wear sunscreen outdoors, but check with your cancer team before applying lotions or sunscreens as some can interfere with treatment.
  • Swelling and soreness. Wear loose clothing to decrease discomfort. Symptoms gradually decrease after treatment but may persist for up to a year.
  • Hair loss. Hair loss at treatment sites usually grows back in 3-6 months but can be permanent in cases of high-dose radiation. Treat your hair gently. Avoid harsh products, curling irons and hot rollers.

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Alternative Cancer Treatment, Immunotherapy, Living with Cancer

The Tough Questions – Should I Pursue Chemotherapy?

Alternative Cancer Treatment
Alternative Cancer Treatment

Chemotherapy is the double-edged sword many cancer patients dread. Patients are told they must undergo chemotherapy to save their lives, but the side effects of chemo can be so traumatic that patients frequently wonder if life with chemo is worth living. Many of these patients are finding that alternative cancer treatments can offer similar results without chemotherapy’s devastating side effects.

Chemo’s Toll on the Body

The problem with chemotherapy is that it cannot discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells. Inside your body, chemo’s toxic chemicals target fast-growing cells, both cancerous and healthy. In the process, many healthy cells are killed or damaged.

Chemotherapy’s impact on the body can be felt from head to toe, as Healthline’s infographic illustrates. From hair loss and chemo brain to sexual dysfunction and infertility to swollen feet and extreme fatigue, chemotherapy’s side effects are as dreaded as the disease it is designed to treat.

Pain without Gain

What makes the decision to undergo chemotherapy even more difficult for cancer patients is the lack of guarantee that the suffering will retard their cancer. Both patients and cancers can develop resistance to chemotherapy, making it an ineffective treatment choice. When traditional medicine fails to offer patients alternative treatment options, they are forced to suffer for nothing.

Alternatives to Chemo

Integrative immunotherapy offers alternatives to chemotherapy that work with the body to fight cancer. Using non-toxic targeted therapies, immunotherapy enhances the body’s natural ability to fight off disease without toxic side effects.

Choosing a cancer treatment program is a personal decision to discuss with your doctor and family, but there are options to chemotherapy. Visit our website to learn more about integrative immunotherapy.

Cancer Research, Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy Could Be Key to Beating Pancreatic Cancer

Immunotherapy May Be The Key To Success With Pancreatic Cancer
Immunotherapy May Be The Key To Success With Pancreatic Cancer

With a mortality rate of 96%, pancreatic cancer is considered the deadliest type of cancer, all but incurable. But a growing number of studies suggest that an alternative cancer treatment, immunotherapy, may hold the key to beating this typically fatal form of cancer. According to the American Cancer Society estimates, pancreatic cancer is expected to kill an estimated 38,500 Americans this year.

But hope may be on the horizon. An increasing body of research suggests that bacterial infections, particularly in the stomach and gums, play a significant role in the development of pancreatic cancer and may even act as a trigger for the disease.

Cancer researchers have been searching for a link between known risk factors for pancreatic cancer: smoking, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, alcoholism and pancreatitis — without success until now. As reported in Live Science, that link may be the presence of two specific bacteria:

  • Helicobacter pylori which has been linked to stomach cancer and peptic ulcers, and
  • Porphyrmomonas gingivalis which has been linked to poor dental hygiene and gum disease.

Scientists now believe that these bacteria affect the body’s immune system, promoting widespread infection and preventing the immune system from defending the body. The primary risk factors of pancreatic cancer are already known to weaken immune system response. The combination of an already weakened immune system and a virulent bacterial attack may simply overwhelm the body’s ability to fight back, promoting the growth of cancer cells in the pancreas.

Immunotherapy to boost the immune system may provide the best hope of remission and possible recovery from pancreatic cancer and other cancers linked to immune system response.