My father was just diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma (non-small cell) with
10-15 small lesions by CT and 3 hot spots by bone scan.
The attending oncologist recommended not using chemotherapy and says that
radiation treatment is not feasible due to the diffuse distribution of the
lesions.
Are there any other treatment options?
Thanks,
Greg Lapin
gla…@nwu.edu
In article <3snsgl$…@news.acns.nwu.edu> la…@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Gregory Lapin) writes:
>From: la…@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Gregory Lapin)
>Subject: HELP: What are treatment options for adenocarcinoma?
>Date: 27 Jun 1995 03:04:53 GMT
>My father was just diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma (non-small cell) with
>10-15 small lesions by CT and 3 hot spots by bone scan.
>The attending oncologist recommended not using chemotherapy and says that
>radiation treatment is not feasible due to the diffuse distribution of the
>lesions.
>Are there any other treatment options?
>Thanks,
>Greg Lapin
>gla…@nwu.edu
Greg,
The information below applies only to cancer cases not curable or
effectively treatable by proven, standard means, as is the case you describe.
Within the last few years, a handful of non-toxic cancer treatment agents
have distinguished themselves from the hundreds that have been considered in
this context based upon preliminary clinical results, lab and/or animal
studies indicating antitumor activity, and in several cases connections
between active ingredients and biological mechanisms of antitumor activity.
An acidic glycosaminoglycan compound derived from bovine tracheal
cartilage (BTC) is among the most interesting for non-small cell lung
cancer. Preliminary clinical studies suggest a rate of major response or
cure of about 15% with another 15% minor response or stabilization for a
variety of cancer types. Non-small cell lung cancer appears to do better
than average and response rates may be higher.
There are two other agents containing glycosaminoglycans or related
mucopolysaccarides. One is chlorella, a green algae of reported 3%
glucosamine content, which has shown anticancer activity in animal studies
and gave an unexpectedly large rates of 2-year survival and progression-free
2-year survival in a small clinical trial for glioblastoma. Another is
Essiac, a common herbal anticancer agent that appears to have weak activity
by itself. However, I have seen several anecdotal cases in which
combinations of two of the three above have give dramatic results for
various cancer types. All of these agents are non-toxic, and all are
reasonably priced. There is a health food store owned by the daughter of a
cancer patient doing well using non-toxics that gives special discounts to
cancer patients and that carries these agents – I can give you their number
privately if you would like.
There are as yet no data on any of these agents from phase II trials with
significant numbers of patients, so, again, despite suggestive clinical
results, animal and lab studies, these must be categorized as
scientifically interesting but unproven. These would be reasonable to
investigate in cases of non-small cell lung cancer not treatable by standard
approaches, however, especially as this cancer type appears to be possibly
more sensitive to such agents than other cancer types.
— David Scheim, Ph.D.
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