Conventional Cancer treatments

The main objectives of a cancer diagnosis and treatment program are to cure or considerably prolong the life of patients and to ensure the best possible quality of life to cancer survivors.



Once the diagnosis and degree of spread of the tumor have been possibly established, a decision can be arrived at regarding the most effective cancer treatment. A treatment package may involve a careful selection of one or more of the major treatment modalities – surgery, radiotherapy and hormonal, biological and immune therapies.

Radiotherapy

A beam of radiation from the X-rays is targeted at the affected area destroying the DNA of the cancer cells to prevent further spread. Normal cells in the vicinity may be slightly damaged in the process but may still be reparable.

Applications -

+ For early diagnosis, (eg. cancers of the skin, cervix, prostate, lungs, thyroid and brain), radiotherapy may be the only treatment needed to cure the cancer.

+ Other conditions to apply are:

• To shrink the size of some cancers before surgery.
• To make sure all the cancer cells are destroyed after surgery, and to treat local spread of the cancer (eg. breast cancer).
• In the emergency treatment of a cancer pressing on the spinal cord, to reduce the size of the cancer and prevent damage to the nerves.
• In advanced cancer to slow down the progress of the disease, relieve pain and other symptoms.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a treatment to destroy cancer cells using medicine with more than 50 types available currently. It is used at various stages of cancer targeting solid tumors (cancerous lumps) affecting organs such as the breast or bowel, as well as blood cancers such as leukemia.

Normally cells divide in a controlled way and to enable the body to grow and repair itself. However, when these cells turn abnormal, they do not stop dividing but instead carry on to form a tumor or blood cancer. All chemotherapy medicines work by attacking cells that are dividing rapidly. In the process, both types of cells can be destroyed.

The type of chemotherapy depends on a number of factors like -

• the type of cancer
• where the cancer started
• what the cancer cells look like under a microscope
• whether the cancer has spread to other parts of your body affecting the general health

Application at one or more stages -

• You may have chemotherapy before surgery to shrink a tumor so that it is easier to remove. It is usually used for tumors that are far too large or too attached to surrounding tissue.
• You may be given chemotherapy after surgery to make sure that any cancerous cells left in your body are destroyed to prevent recurrence.
• In advanced stage, palliative chemotherapy may be used to shrink the tumor or, if it has spread to other organs, to slow the progress of the disease and prolong your life.
• When there are few tumors, it is more effective to perform chemotherapy with radiotherapy than either one on its own.
• In some types of aggressive cancer, particularly leukemia, high-dose chemotherapy is required. As a result, many of the body's own immune cells are being destroyed and a bone marrow transplant may be required as a follow up to replace the tissue damaged by the high-dose medicines.

In all cases, close monitoring is required throughout the treatment by physical examination, X-rays/scans and blood and urine tests.

http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/chemotherapy.html#1

Chemotherapy drugs really work?

Most chemotherapy medicines affect the DNA in cancer cells. DNA is the chemical that stores the genetic information in a cell. It controls what a cell does, including how it divides. By affecting the DNA, most chemotherapy medicines interfere with the division of cancer cells and may cause the cancer to die completely. However, chemo drugs also kills healthy cells, which can lead to side-effects. How?

Such drugs can damage healthy cells and trigger the secretion of a protein called WNT16B that was taken up by tumor cells neighboring the damaged cells. This allows the tumor cells to grow, invade and resist subsequent therapy treatment. This study just published by researchers in the United States made the “completely unexpected” finding while seeking to explain why cancer cells are so resilient inside the human body when they are easy to kill in the lab.

This is confirmed when tested the effects of a type of chemotherapy on tissue collected from men with prostate cancer, and found “evidence of DNA damage” in healthy cells after treatment. Similar findings were made on breast and ovarian cancer tumors.

Hence, in current cancer treatment, tumors only respond well initially, followed by rapid regrowth and then resistance to further chemotherapy. Rates of tumor cell reproduction have been shown to accelerate between treatments.

Some known symptoms of Chemotherapy are – brain shrinkage, vomiting, hair loss, muscle loss, brain damage, heart damage, kidney damage and liver damage. Much of this damage can be permanent.

Ref: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori…218305/1/.html (dated 6 Aug 2012)

Stem cell therapy

Stem cells are infant cells that have the potential to develop into many different or specialized cell types to replenish damaged tissue in organs like liver, and cells found in muscle and blood with specific functions. To-date, stem cell therapies usually rely on cells that are donated by another person. This raises the possibility of donor cell rejection by the patient's immune system. In the near future, it may be possible for a person to use a sample of his or her own stem cells to regenerate tissue, which would reduce or even eliminate the danger of rejection.

Current application extends to using stem cell technologies to replace any diseased or damaged tissue in the body arising from cancer like leukemia.

Stem cell therapies really work?
As the research is still in the embryonic stage, such embryonic and adult stem cells can lead to uncontrolled cell division and tumor formation if not executed correctly.

Three different studies were carried out on lab mice and a shocking discovery was made that showed stem cells cause tumors to reappear after cancer therapy. Though tumors are known to be en-masses of cancer cells that are all similar, and all dividing, latest papers showed they act more like cancer cell factories.

Hence, when healthy stem cells are planted to develop into specialized tissues of the body, they may encounter a tumor growing. In the instance, the tumor overtakes the stem cells to create new cancer cells, looking identical to the normal stem cells. As most treatments are unable to differentiate both types of stem cells, the normal ones can be damaged in the process.

Better understanding of the cancer stem cells will be critical for re-evaluation of existing therapies and development of new ones.

Ref: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/health/view/1217395/1/.html (dated 2 Aug 2012)

VIVA corner


In a bid to increase cure in recent years, medical researchers have started to use a combination of immunotherapies with traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy to achieve better results. One of the immunotherapies applied uses the so-called biological response modulator. This approach strengthens all types of cells that make up the immune system, and in the course exerts the effects of resisting cancers and other diseases.

VIVA Germanium is an organic yeast germanium is one such potent biological response modulator. Another product, VIVA Selguard was featured in Anti-cancer Research May 2000 and presented at the 1999 Annual Convention of the American Association of Cancer Research to have chemotherapeutic effects and the ability to promote cellular death of rogue cells.