Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog - information on herbal medicine » Cancer

CANCER AND PRECANCER PREVENTION: ORAL LEUKOPLAKIA PREVENTION

admin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:30:07 +0000

Leukoplakia is a condition characterized by white patches of tissue inside the mouth that are known to be premalignant. The major risk factors for leukoplakia are tobacco use, alcohol use, dietary factors, and the chewing of betel nuts. The highest rates of oral cancer are seen in India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, New Guinea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and parts of Brazil. In the United States there are about 32,000 cases of oral cancer.Patients who have been treated for and cured of their first cancer of the head and neck usually continue the same lifestyle, then develop and succumb to a second one.Certain nutrients, including retinoids, carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E, have an important role in the prevention of oral cancer. These nutrients inhibit leukoplakia and other precancerous and cancerous lesions in animal studies and in human trials. In humans, the use of certain retinoids reversed leukoplakia, but it recurred once the retinoids were discontinued. Taking beta-carotene alone or in combination with vitamin A was found to decrease the incidence of damaged mucosal cells in populations at high risk for oral cancer.In India, patients with oral lesions were divided into three groups: the first group received 180 milligrams per week of beta-carotene alone; the second received beta-carotene plus vitamin A (100,000 IU per week); and the third group received a placebo. Six months after treatment, complete remissions were seen in 15 percent of group one, 27.5 percent of group two, and only 3 percent of group three. New appearances of leukoplakia were strongly inhibited. In another study, similar patients were given 200,000 IU of vitamin A per week for six months; 57 percent of them responded completely and also had a complete suppression of new leukoplakia.Of twenty-four patients with leukoplakia given 30 milligrams of beta-carotene daily, 71 percent responded completely after three to six months. The investigators of this study also showed that betacarotene enhanced the immune system by significantly increasing the number of killer cells as well as effecting smaller increases in other immune cells. Hence beta-carotene effectively inhibits the cancer process, is nontoxic, and is readily available.In another human study beta-carotene conclusively reversed leukoplakia. The results of this study suggest that beta-carotene may not protect the body from cancer until late, when a normal cell is about to be transformed into a cancer cell. This means that the initial actions triggered by a carcinogen may not be inhibited by beta-carotene as it is by other nutrients, but rather the carotene stops the transformation of the cell from a normal one to a malignant one.Very high doses of carotene taken by mouth appear to lower the blood concentration of vitamin E over a period of eight months, and other studies show similar findings. In these studies, the protective effect of beta-carotene was somewhat reduced, indicating that all of the antioxidants are needed to protect the cell.*43\360\2*

EVENING PRIMROSE OIL AND CANCER

admin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 11:52:14 +0000

One of the exciting possibilities for evening primrose oil lies in its use in treating cancer. The aim of using evening primrose oil in the treatment of cancer is to normalize tumours by stopping the cancer cells from proliferating, without affecting healthy cells.
This is very different from the existing orthodox approach that uses chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in which the treatment is toxic to both cancerous and healthy cells, with unpleasant side-effects. Treatment with evening primrose oil has no unpleasant side-effects.
Studies done during the 1980s all confirm that the GLA in evening primrose oil stops cancer cells proliferating, and can normalize them. Most of these studies have been in the laboratory, on animal and human cancer cells. However, there have been a few clinical studies on humans with various types of cancer.
Preliminary studies in a few patients have shown promising results. One man with advanced lung cancer who was expected to live only four weeks survived for three years. Another man with bladder cancer, expected to live less than three months, was still alive and well three years later.
A doctor in South Africa has reported excellent results in four patients with astrocytoma (a kind of blood cancer), and two with mesathelioma.
But perhaps the most interesting results so far have been from a pilot study on six South African patients with liver cancer. In four patients, liver size decreased, and in two of these four patients this decrease was substantial.
Although five patients died, the mean survival time after diagnosis increased from 42 to 67 days. (This figure includes the survival time of two patients who were terminal on admission and died within days after the diagnoses were made.)
In all six cases symptomatic improvement was obvious, and quite striking improvement followed the start of the supplementation in three patients.
Only one patient entered the trial before the stage of severe clinical deterioration. He received Efamol for 172 days, and his clinical condition improved dramatically. This patient, a man aged 28, was admitted-having been treated unsuccessfully for some time by a traditional healer.
After diagnosis of primary liver cancer, his diet was supplemented with six capsules a day of Efamol for the first 30 days. After that it was increased to 18 capsules a day, and 8g of Vitamin С a day were added as well. On day 127 Efamol was increased to 27 capsules a day, and the Vitamin С kept at 8g a day. He received no other treatment.
This patient was discharged from hospital, given a supply of Efamol and Vitamin C, and asked to return six weeks later. Tests showed that the tumour in his liver had gone down considerably.
Apart from any anti-tumour effects, most patients taking evening primrose oil for cancer have reported a substantially increased sense of well-being. The patients volunteered this information spontaneously; it was an unexpected bonus of the evening primrose oil treatment. For patients with cancer, an increase in well-being is a great asset.

*1/60/5*

SURGERY AIMED AT PREVENTING OR RELIEVING SYMPTOMS – INTRODUCTION

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:02:20 +0000

Patients with extensive cancer sometimes have symptoms which can be overcome temporarily by an operation. For example, pain and inability to walk due to a fracture through a cancer deposit in the thigh bone can be corrected by strengthening the bone with a steel pin and plate. Weakness and numbness of the legs due to a cancer deposit pressing on the spinal cord may be reversed by relieving the pressure surgically. Pain and vomiting due to blockage of the bowel can be treated by surgically bypassing the blockage, usually by creating a colostomy.

Before agreeing to this sort of surgery, you need to be very clear about what the proposed operation can and cannot achieve. Firstly, these operations cannot and do not have any effect on the cancer itself. Very little of the cancer is actually removed. If you have extensive cancer before one of these operations, you will still have extensive cancer after it.

*249/40/1*