Cancer Treatment

Many discoveries at various levels of research get a mention here or here but most of us are not exposed to such information, which makes us unable to discuss them with our physician.

One “breakthrough” that made sense to me was described in 1993 at a forum in New York sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

The background is that bodily tissues have similarities with tumours in that the latter also rely on nutrients from our blood to survive.

By a process known as angiogenesis, these tumours send out chemical runners stimulating a life line (new capillaries) into the blood stream. It's a bit like a life saver's line. It actually saves the life of that tumour.

Apparently it is exactly when angiogenesis starts that tumours flourish. If this can finally be proven, anything that can prevent or cut off blood supply to tumours must stand a winning chance against the big C. According to Judah Folkman, a paediatric surgeon at the Children's Hospital in Boston, it is also an important issue for anyone cleared of cancer but currently living in fear of secondary or new tumours.

It is through knowing the extent of angiogenesis (ie the volume of growth of new capillaries reaching out for the blood stream) that the treatment of a tumour will be determined, Folkman believes.

He believes this approach could be tried before chemotherapy.

His focus is on “hot spots” of dense, newly formed capillaries. Counting their number in a microscopic field, he has been able to predict occurrences of tumours.

Over the past years drugs that block angiogenesis have apparently tested successfully on patients with general types of cancer. Your doctor will know of these drugs if they have been released and are currently available in your country. It is certainly something you could talk to him / her about.

Alternatively, an as-yet unproven substance from sharks has received a great deal of attention in a book called “Sharks don’t get Cancer”, which has attracted a great deal of media coverage in Japan and also in a number of Western countries.

Here the bottom line is that sharks cartilage cuts off the blood supply to tumours seeking attachment.
Whether this is in fact true will depend on whether cancer associations put their research monies in this direction and if private funding can be found.

Whatever the result, discussing these options with your physician or any cancer support group that has experience of alternatives that might have individual clinical successes is worthwhile. In many ways we can learn from each others' experience.