Tag Archives: Radiation therapy

Curcumin and triple negative cancer

August 7, 2014

   Curcumin Is a Triple Negative Cancer Treatment Compound

curcuminCancer doctors and researchers have always done a great job in trying to find us the best treatment to this disease. This is not because there are no cancer treatments that work but because some of the most common conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy radiation therapy and surgery have left some loophole that needs to be filled for cancer treatment to be effective and safe for all cancer patients. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy have been used for a long time in cancer treatment. However they focus on killing of cancerous by poisoning them. When done the chemotherapy drugs not only kill the cancerous cells but also kill the healthy body cells that are vital for optimum body functioning . This leads to many side effects that make cancer treatments a very painful ordeal. Several cancer patients have died after chemotherapy because of the severe side effects that it is associated with.

Today we have very many alternative cancer treatments thanks to the tireless researchers and cancer doctors who have continued to do research on better cancer treatment alternatives. The researchers have availed varied cancer treatments alternatives ranging from dietary manipulations to natural cancer treatments. Use of natural cures of cancer treatments have since gained popularity due to their availability and cost effectiveness. Another reason that has seen cancer patients seeking natural cancer treatment alternatives is because of the facts that they are devoid of the life threatening side effects that most conventional cancer treatment methods are always associated with. Use of fruits and vegetables are popular today and are sought after as some of the most effective cancer treatment methods worldwide. Some of the diets that have been proposed to work best in cancer treatment involve the use of these fruits and vegetables. The Gerson’s therapy is one of the most famous alternative cancer treatments that have been used in cancer treatment. Researchers have also been able to discover compounds that are effective in fighting cancer in some of these fruits and vegetables. Recently researchers found that a compound in the peach fruit helped in fighting cancer. However peaches are not the only fruits that have been promoted as effective alternatives to cancer treatment. Berries among other fruits are part of the long list. One of these naturally occurring compounds that help in fighting cancer is curcumin. Curcumin is an effective component in turmeric.

Curcumin

Curcumin is a compound in Turmeric. Turmeric is a member of the ginger family, turmeric has been highly valued for its many medicinal abilities, among most of its medicinal abilities is that it is very effective in reducing inflammations. Turmeric is a common spice to Indians who value it for its health benefits. Curcumin is the most active component of turmeric.  Curcumin is effective in reducing inflammations. It exerts its anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting the enzymes and prostaglandins that are essential for inflammation. Curcumin has not only been promoted as an anti-inflammation agent but several studies have proved that it helps in cancer treatment.

Not long ago researchers at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas conducted a research that involved dividing 45 patients with rheumatoid arthritis into three groups. One group received curcumin, the second group was given a standard rheumatoid arthritis drug and the third group was given both. After eight weeks, both the group who took curcumin alone and the group that got both the drug and the spice had a greater reduction in symptoms such as joint swelling and pain compared with those who only took the drug devoid of curcumin. It was also noted that those who were on the curcumin did not suffer any side effect as was the case with those who were under the standard drugs. The findings of this research is pointer that curcumin can help in cancer treatment as inflammation is a feature in cancer.

A new research study done by researchers from Zheijian Provincial People’s Hospital in Zheijiang, China shows that a compound in turmeric known as curcumin, which gives the spice its characteristic saffron-like color, has the ability of inducing  cell death, also known as apoptosis within triple negative breast cancer cells.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most difficult cancer to treat as these cancer cells are very resistant to drugs. These cancer cells do not have the characteristic receptors for estrogen, progesterone and Her2/neu. This makes it very hard to treat a patient with Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) as most treatments especially the conventional cancer treatments target these receptors that are missing in the cells. Without these receptors such treatments do not work. For example Tamoxifen targets estrogen receptors, in absence of estrogen receptors Tamoxifen cannot work in cancer treatment. For this reason, TNBC is considered the most aggressive, the most likely to be treated with less-targeted (and therefore more toxic) forms of chemotherapy, and the soonest to return when treatment fails. For Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) target therapies are not the best options for treatment.

Today it is approximated that between 15-25% of all breast cancer cases are triple negative. This statistics remind us of other treatments that can best work in cancer treatment. Unfortunately those bodies that are known to create awareness on Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) are only focused on raising money for a pharmaceutical cure that is yet to be made. Curcumin can effectively be used in treatment of Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) as it works better here than any other target therapies.

CurcuminTriple negative breast cancer (TNBC) can be treated best in integrative cancer centers such as AWAREmed where all the possible cures will be put to use to ensure that the disease is fought and won.

Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an experienced integrative cancer doctor that has helped many cancer patients in their fight against the disease. She has worked hard not only in treating the disease but also in availing informational support to cancer patients at Awaremed which has become a place called home for many cancer patients. Call on her now and get help on cancer.

   Curcumin Is a Triple Negative Cancer Treatment Compound

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Off-label Drugs and Cancer

August 3, 2014

Use of off-label Drugs in Cancer Treatment

off-labelIn the past, there was a belief that when you had gone for cancer diagnosis then the only options of treatment you had were only chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. This belief seemingly has refused to leave the minds of very many people even after medical researchers and other oncologists have done lots of work to avail various alternatives to cancer treatments. The researchers are giving us better ways of treating cancer everyday and all we ought to do is find an integrative cancer doctor who can make the best out of the discovered cancer treatment alternatives. The reason to why so many alternatives to cancer treatment are sought everyday is not because there is no cancer cure, no cancer unlike HIV has known cures all the doctors and researcher are trying to do is to find us a better cancer treatment that is free from all the severe and life threatening side effects that cancer patients have to embrace while undergoing the conventional cancer treatments. Some of these alternatives also work better when used alongside conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy. They also increase the effectiveness of the chemotherapy treatment as they induce the cancer cells to consume poisoned food particles, an example of this is the Insulin potentiation therapy that has been used to effectively target the cancer cells, killing them without causing any severe hurt to the healthy body cells. Other alternative cancer treatments have also proved their effectiveness in fighting cancer and so it is time to shift this belief in conventional cancer treatments and accept the new inventions that can help cancer patients to get better treatments. There are very many alternatives to cancer treatments and that is one of the reasons why AwareMed exists; to let you know of all the available options that you can utilize in case you become a victim of this dreaded disease. Here is one of the alternatives.

Use of Off-label Drugs

The off label use of drugs is to use medicine for another reason other than the intended purpose for which it was approved by the United States FDA or any other regulatory body. It is the use of drug for the purpose that is not on the official label, hence “off-label”. There are very many drugs that are meant to treat other diseases but can work very well in cancer treatment. The utilization of these off-label drugs is not something unusual, though they are not as common as they ought to be. The regulatory bodies have not supported the use of drugs approved for treatment of a particular disease to be used in treatment of another disease and this may explain why the use of off-label drugs is not that common. Cancer is a disease that is caused by many factors and so is it treatment facilitated by many factors. There are conditions that cancer shares with other diseases and so the treatment that works in those other diseases will work rather perfectly in cancer treatment. The integrative doctors knows the relationship between cancer and other diseases and whether the off-label drugs can work better in suppressing the tumor growth and restore the health of the cancer patient. Experienced integrative cancer doctors like Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) can help personalize the use of off-label drugs to help in healing the cancer patient better.

The off-label drugs can work in different ways to help in fighting the cancer. The avenues through which the off-label drugs work to treat cancer are numerous and are based on the common features that cancer shares with the said diseases. It is not strange to hear that diabetes drugs are used for cancer.

Diabetes Drugs for cancer

One of the great oncologist; Otto Warburg showed the dependence of cancer cells on glucose. In his experiments he proved that cancer cells depended solely on sugar sources of energy to survive and metastasize. Without sugar the cancer cell will be starved to death as they will not access the necessary nutrient supplies. Diabetes drugs are used to suppress the sugar level in the blood. These drugs work in favor of cancer treatment as they tend to reduce the amount of energy that is available for the cancer cells to survive on. An integrated oncologist may decide to use a diabetic drug to suppress the sugar level in a cancer patient and hasten the death of cancer cells out of starvation. As the cancer cell will be dying the healthy body cells will be using other sources of energy like fats to survive.

Apart from diabetes drugs, there are other medications that are useful in cancer treatment. Drugs used in enhancing immunity can be used to stimulate the white blood cells to fight cancer cells. Antibiotics that are not mentioned as cancer drugs may help in fighting cancer by inhibiting the enzymes that the cancer cells are dependent on.

Noscapine has also been found to be very effective in fighting cancer as it helps in cancer by preventing the division of cancer cells.

off-labelSome of the drugs used as anti-HIV can also be used in cancer treatment. Examples are ritonavir, nelfinavir and saquinavir. A test that was done by Dr. Phillip Dennis found that these drugs have an effect on the growth of cancer as they were found to kill cancer cells through apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy.

Dr. Dalal Akoury is an experienced integrative cancer doctor who has seen very many cancer patients journey to victory in their fight against cancer. She is available for consultations. Just call her now and begin your journey to victory against cancer.

Use of off-label Drugs in Cancer Treatment

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Avemar and Cancer

August 3, 2014

Natural Hormone Manipulation, IPT and Avemar in Cancer Treatment

AvemarLike I have always said cancer is a very dangerous disease but a very interesting research. The researchers are always coming up with something new. Cancer patients are waking up every day to find new alternative to cancer treatment. Here are some alternative cancer treatments that can be used to treat breast cancer patients as well as other types of cancer that has victimized the human population.

Avemar and cancer treatment

This is a naturally fermented wheat germ extract that researchers have worked on for a long time trying to verify if it is effective in cancer treatment as earlier sources revealed. Researchers have proved that Avemar is an effective cancer treatment that unlike other alternative cancer treatments does not treat a single type of cancer but works effectively in treatment of all types of cancer. It can therefore be used effectively in fighting breast cancer, cervical cancer as well as other cancers that have victimized our women for centuries.

Avemar also helps the immune system in identifying and killing the cancer cells. It strengthens the natural killer cells to spot and destroy the cancer cells as well as any other foreign body that may enhance the growth of the cancerous cells and cause more harm to the cancer patient. The cancer cell unfortunately may escape the natural killer cell by masking themselves in a special membrane that the natural killer cells cannot identify as foreign, Avemar helps in this situation as it inhibits the release of this special membrane thereby making it possible for the natural killer cells to spot the cancer cells and kill them.

Avemar is very safe for cancer treatment as it is free from all the adverse side effects that most conventional treatments are always associated with. It is very effective in reducing the hurt that is normally caused by conventional cancer treatment methods like chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Researchers have revealed that Avemar when used after chemotherapy or radiation therapy restores the ability of the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells which is essential to any cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This was verified at 1st Congress of the Hungarian Society of Clinical Oncology. Budapest, Hungary, 2000.

A clinical test done in Budapest to test the effectiveness of Avemar in cancer treatment, the clinical tests involved 22 who had different types of cancers. 11 children out of the 22 were given Avemar before and during their chemotherapy, while the other half were not given Avemar in the course of the chemotherapy. In the first group, there were a total of 121 cycles of chemotherapy and 30 episodes of febrile neutropenia (24.8 percent). While in the second group there were a total of 106 cycles of chemotherapy and 46 episodes of febrile neutropenia (43.3 percent). The ability of the Avemar to reduce incidence of febrile neutropenia in cancer patient is enough to verify how effective cancer treatment alternative it is.

Avemar has also been used in the past alongside conventional cancer treatments and in all the cases the patients had fewer side effects. It helped to reduce the severity of the side effects of the chemotherapy drugs. It also improved the recovery of the patients greatly.

Insulin potentiation Therapy

Insulin potentiation therapy is a clever way to kill the cancer cells easier and also to keep the healthy cells safe from the chemotherapy drug. The Insulin potentiation therapy involves the use of insulin and chemotherapy drugs. The basis of effectiveness of the Insulin Potentiation therapy is that, cancerous cells are more responsive to glucose than the healthy cells. So, to kill the cancer cells without affecting the healthy cells becomes rather easier. The chemotherapy drugs are introduced into the patient’s body within glucose globules. As normal the cancer cells will be the first to reach for the poisoned glucose hence they will die leaving the rest of the healthy cells safe from the effects of the poisonous chemotherapy drugs. It can be used in treatment of breast cancer as well as other cancers as all cancer cells react to insulin in the same way.

The use of Insulin potentiation therapy in cancer treatment is more effective that the haphazard chemotherapy that ends up hurting the healthy cells.IPT targets the cancer cell cleverly while avoiding the healthy cells.

It works on the basis that the cancer cells are more responsive to glucose than the healthy cells. It involves introducing glucose that are poisoned with the chemotherapy drugs so, as the cancer drugs reach for them they end up consuming the chemotherapy drugs hence they die without affecting the healthy body cells.

Natural hormone manipulation

There are hormones that can attach to breast cancer cells and promote the ability of the cancer cells metastasize. Natural Hormone manipulation aims at blocking or removing the hormones. Some hormones like estrogen and progesterone can promote the growth of most breast cancer cells. Natural hormone manipulation is given to block the body’s naturally occurring estrogen so as to stop cancer cell growth.

AvemarNatural hormone manipulation that is used in breast cancer treatment should not be confused with hormone replacement therapy that normally used by postmenopausal women. The hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women adds more hormones to the body and is not done as a cancer treatment.

Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) has been committed to availing information on cancer treatment. She is an experienced integrative oncologist who can help you get better cancer treatment. Check this website frequently for updates. You can also call her for consultations.

Natural Hormonal, IPT and Avemar in Cancer Treatment

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Whole Body Hyperthermia

August 2, 2014

The Role of Whole Body Hyperthermia In Cancer Care

HyperthermiaHyperthermia is a condition in which the body temperatures are higher than the normal degrees. Hyperthermia can be caused by certain diseases but it can also be created by medical experts to help in treatment of certain diseases especially cancer. In this case it is referred to as heat treatment. Higher than normal temperatures are known to cause various health complications but in hyperthermia the heat is under careful control of qualified medical personnel hence cannot kill the patient but only kill the cancerous cells.

Use of hyperthermia which is also called thermal therapy in cancer treatment involves exposing the patient’s body tissues to high temperatures of up to 113°F.Thermal therapy is used to kill or damage the cancerous cells without or with minimal hurt to the healthy cells.

Thermal treatment helps in making the cancer cells more vulnerable to treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy. High temperatures may also kill the cancer cells instantly. Hyperthermia is very effective in treatment of cancer but it may also lead to the death of healthy cells for this reason it needs to be handled by doctors who are well versed in the area and can take good control of the heat so as to avoid harm to the patient.

Hyperthermia had been used in the past however, back then the tools used in hyperthermia were not as effective and so the results were not constant. The reason to this was that the doctors were finding it hard to maintain that heat on a specific area of the body for a certain time without affecting the remaining parts of the body that was not subject to the treatment. This means the other body parts that did not have cancerous cells also got affected adversely. Nevertheless there are no hopes lost as today’s tools used in hyperthermia are more effective and it is now easy to control the heat on a certain area without affecting the rest of the body. Today very many health institutions are using hyperthermia in treatment of cancer worldwide.

There are different types of hyperthamia depending on the area the heat is concentrated. I had tackled the different types of hyperthermia in the past and today we are going to learn about the whole body hyperthermia and how it can be effectively used in cancer treatment.

Whole-body hyperthermia

The whole hyperthermia as used in cancer treatment involves the application of heat on the entire body of the cancer patient. Whole body hyperthermia mainly used in treating cancer that has spread to other body parts in other words it is used in treatment of metastatic cancer. There are varieties of methods through which the heat can be applied to the whole body. These methods may include but not limited to: hot-water blankets, special coiled devices or special thermal chambers that are like large incubators.

The whole body hyperthermia involves increasing the body temperatures but the heat used in local hyperthermia is much higher than the heat used in whole body hyperthermia. In whole body hyperthermia the temperatures are raise above 43 degrees Celsius. The whole body thermal therapy is mostly used with other conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Thermal therapy does lots to kill the cancer cells. when the proteins in the cancer cells gets coagulated and the blood vessels that supply the cancer cells with nutrients are destroyed, the cancer cells remains with no food source and so they die out of starvation and damage caused  by the thermal therapy. The thermal therapy literally cooks the surrounding of the cancer cells depleting all the proteins in the cancer cells and destroying the blood vessels they rely on for supplies of the necessary nutrients.

To retain the heat the cancer patient may be placed in a tent that is made of a very flexible thermal insulator. The tent which is placed over a patients bed or treating table helps in keeping the heat. The tent is spacious enough to let the patient move about in it during the treatment. The tent is also fitted with transparent windows to help the patient keep in touch with relatives who might have come to visit him or her during the treatment. This heat will be retained up to the time that it has been used effectively in killing the cancerous cells.

HyperthermiaThe whole body hyperthermia helps the body in fighting cancer in several ways. Today very many cancer patients are going through whole body hyperthermia as a treatment to their disease. Here are some of the ways through which it helps in fighting cancer.

  • The whole body hyperthermia stimulates the body’s natural immune system to fight the cancer cells.
  • It helps in increasing the cancer cell recognition by the body’s immune system hence can be easily targeted and killed.
  • It also increases the immune system chemicals that fight the cancer cells
  • Increases the strength of macrophage, lymphocyte, cytotoxic T cells and dendritic cells in the body. These help the immune system in fighting cancer.
  • increases the more beneficial heat-shock proteins
  • The whole body hyperthermia also increases blood flow-oxygen to the more low oxygen tumors. Cancer cell do not thrive where there is lots of oxygen.
  • It also weakens the tumor cell walls hence making them more vulnerable to chemotherapy
  • Whole body hyperthermia also helps in reducing cancer cell resistance to chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Dr. Dalal Akoury is an experienced integrative cancer doctor who has seen very many cancer patients journey to victory in their fight against cancer. She is available for consultations. Just call her now and begin your journey to victory against cancer.

The role of Whole body hyperthermia in cancer care

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Personalized Cancer Treatment

July 29, 2014

 

An Integrative Personalized Cancer Treatment

Cancer is a multi-faceted disease that needs to be treated in a multi-dimensional approach. The times are gone when all cancer patients went for conventional cancer treatment methods like chemotherapy just to be treated with one drug. This is not a good approach and will not help any cancer patient. This is because cancer is fuelled by different agents. We all have different gene composition and our bodies react to drugs differently. The new era of cancer treatments involves personalized treatment; where an individual’s condition, genetic composition, the patient’s preference as well as the doctors experience count in the type of treatment the patient receives. Personalized treatments are working much better than the orthodox cancer treatment methods. This is because before a drug is administered to a patient, it is tested and its ability to treat the disease is analyzed in the labs before introducing it into the body of the patient. Tests such as chemosensitivity test, Biofocus tests and the greet test have been used to test and verify drugs and treatment options that can work best with the patient.

Integrative cancer treatment approach is a better approach than tying a cancer patient to one way treatment methods that may not yield any fruit. In fact that would be an insult to the researchers who have worked all the years just to bring us different alternative cancer treatments in a bid to make cancer treatment less stressful and to reduce the severity of the side effects that conventional cancer treatment methods like chemotherapy and radiation therapy are associated with. Integrated cancer treatment approach also heals the patient wholly and does not just aim at killing the cancerous cells.

Integrative cancer treatment can also be personalized for better effects on the patient. The integrative oncologist has got experience in handling cancer patients needless to repeat he combines the conventional cancer treatment with other alternative cancer treatments to get the best cure for a cancer patient. He understands that patients react to treatments differently and will do the necessary tests that will aid him in giving the right treatment to the patient. Being at liberty to combine best treatments both conventional and naturopathic, the doctor will craft a treatment that best suits the situation. He has numerous options to choose from here are some of the options.

The dietary approach

There are very many diet plans that are considered to work well in certain situations and with given type of cancers. After the doctor has done some tastes and has known what deficiencies needs to be addressed, he will decide on the best diet to recommend to the patient so as to help in treating the patient. Here is an example of diet treatment approach.

The Gerson’s therapy- This is a natural approach to treatment of cancer. The therapy is based on organic diet that is mainly composed of vegetables and vegetable juices. The diet helps the body to recover by activating the body’s natural healing abilities. Gerson’s program also features coffee enemas plus other natural supplements that are geared towards helping the body to heal itself. It also helps in boosting immune system and is helpful in fighting cancer. The Gerson’s therapy does not only treat the symptoms of the disease but removes all the toxic substances entirely from the body. It cures directly from the cell level and that means that it uproots the disease causing agents from their roots destroying them completely.

The doctor will assess the viability of the Gerson’s therapy in treating the patient before implementing it. In some cases the dietary approach may be used alongside chemotherapy to enhance drug uptake by the cancer cells and to reduce the side effects.

Advanced diagnostic approach

Advanced diagnostic involves a thorough and reliable diagnosis. Through these tests the doctor will be able to personalize the treatment. The advanced diagnostic will use the following tests to verify which treatment option best suits the condition. A review of health history, Physical examination, Laboratory tests, Genetic tests and bone scans. The tests will help the doctor to locate the tumors and also to know the stage of the disease therefore will help him in deciding on the best treatment combinations to treat the patient. This method also allows the doctor to monitor how the drugs are working on the tumor as well as the response of the cells to the treatment, at this point the doctor will decide whether to continue with the routine or try some treatment option. The possibility of any severe side effect is also considered.

        Target cancer therapies

The integrative doctor may decide to use drugs that are designed to interfere with specific molecules necessary for tumor growth and metastasis. The aim of target therapies is to fight cancer more strategically with few side effects. Again before the doctor decides to use the target therapies he must do a lab test to verify that it can work well for the patient.

The target therapy is aimed at killing the cancer cells without harming the healthy body cells. It can also be used alongside chemotherapy. Your doctor will decide which the best for your condition is.

With personalized cancer treatment the patients and doctors are relieved on repeat treatment especially haphazard chemotherapy that may not yield any benefits. Through personalized treatment the cure for the cancer is known before the chemotherapy drugs are injected into the patient making this treatment more preferable. Dr. Dalal Akoury runs a website that equips people with relevant information about cancer. Check on her website regularly to benefit from her wealth of health knowledge.

An Integrative Personalized Cancer Treatment

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