cytoxic chemotherapy | The Healthy Living Group

Two recent articles have prompted me to share my opinion about SACT (systemic anti-cancer therapy, i.e., cytotoxic chemotherapy) and the rate of deaths in cancer patients associated with this therapy. Based on years of data, “standard of care” does not work in many, if not most cases of advanced-stage cancer. The studies and cases brought forth by these articles and the studies they are based on, offer more proof that my beliefs have merit, with many of my research partners, colleagues, and scientists being in agreement.

These articles bring to light the significant rate of death in patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer and patients with breast cancer, within 30 days of being treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy (SACT). One article by Yelena Sukhoterina reveals that 50% of cancer patients die within 30 days, at some hospitals.

Another article based on a British study in hospitals from 2012 to 2014, also shows a significant death rate among those diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer and patients with breast cancer after 30 days of treatment, with higher rates noted after 30 days of first-time cytotoxic chemotherapy treatment. The patient deaths in the British study, in many cases, were attributed to “poor clinical decision making” and prompted this statement from the directors of this study:

“Patients dying within 30 days after beginning treatment with SACT are unlikely to have gained the survival or palliative benefits of the treatment, and in view of the side-effects sometimes caused by SACT, are more likely to have suffered harm.”

It is my experience that these treatments have failed to achieve a high level of consistent rates of disease-free survival in some of the most common cancers, including lung cancer and breast cancer. This is why I have long been a proponent of the concept of low dose “metronomic” chemotherapy. This method effectively kills cancer cells with lower doses of chemotherapy, while inhibiting angiogenesis (development of new blood vessels for the cancer), and stimulating an immune response (as opposed to inhibiting the immune system with maximum tolerated dose chemotherapy), which enables the patient to experience the benefits without the associated health risks of commonly used SACT.

It is my mission, with my research, testing and in-office patient care and evaluation, to alert the public at large, and help them understand that there are far less dangerous methods available now, to extend the lives of cancer patients.

With public awareness, we can all fight the battle of making the most effective treatments for patients available for all doctors and oncologists to use, without having “standard of care” issues prevent patients from getting the non-life threatening treatments they need and deserve.

To all doctors involved in the battle against cancer, I propose considering treatments that are not administered in “maximum tolerated doses.” From the data available, maximum tolerated doses are often responsible for cancer patients losing their fight, not to the cancer, but from the standard of care treatments.

The big problem associated with SACT is the evolution of resistance in cancer cells. Maximum tolerated dose chemotherapy causes accelerated Darwinian natural selection and evolution of the cancer cells, rapidly creating the most resistant and aggressive cancer, that is no longer amenable to treatment.

My approach of low dose metronomic chemotherapy is congruent with cancer scientists’ ideas and observations, that the increasing development of cancer-resistant clones can be delayed, by adopting a “minimum drug intensity” approach, rather than the maximum tolerated dose standard of care approach.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160224164357.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2669231/

healthyliving September 26th, 2016

Posted In: cancer care