We devote
one issue each year to cancer, because metastatic cancer remains largely
incurable and people seek alternative medicine practitioners and clinics
for unconventional therapies. Despite the billions of dollars that
have funded research in the US and internationally, the war on cancer
has largely been unfruitful. For the treatable tumors that are surgically
removed early, survival has been the rule. Leukemia and lymphoma, which
were uniformly lethal prior to the 1960s, have extended survival with
chemotherapy. Unfortunately, abdominal cancers including stomach, esophageal,
gall bladder, pancreatic, and liver are highly malignant, metastasizing
rapidly and rarely permitting any remissions. Brain tumors and neurologic
tumors are highly variable in their outcomes. While squamous cell carcinoma
is highly treatable, melanoma is more prone to metastasis. For men,
prostate cancer is generally successfully treated with surgery, radiation,
and hormone-based therapies, but the same level of success has not
been afforded to women in their battle with breast cancer. Why is breast
cancer curable with surgery and radiation for many women, yet, for
others, the cancer metastasizes years after the initial remission?
For those whose cancer remains in remission, the medical history is
infrequently reevaluated. For those whose cancer metastasizes, not
only does cancer become a personal battle, the strategies offered by
the oncologist are questioned, and opinions are sought from alternative
cancer practitioners.
In 1985, the US Congress authorized its Office of Technology Assessment to evaluate
unconventional cancer therapies. The advisory committee authored a report on
alternative cancer therapies and practitioners in 1989, which led to the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) establishing an Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM)
and, later, a Center of Complementary Alternative Medicine (CCAM). In this issue,
columnist Marcus Cohen interviews Frank Wiewel regarding the recommendations
of the advisory committee, the OAM, and the accomplishments and failures of the
CCAM. Also, Cohen gives us an update of cancer research pioneer Dr. Emmanuel
Revici. Our "War on Cancer" columnist, Ralph Moss, PhD, opines that
the two most important areas in cancer research in the past decade have been
the discovery of cancer stem cells and the reemergence of the theories by Nobel
Laureate Otto Warburg, MD, PhD. Warburg's work is reviewed
in depth by
Brian Peskin, who describes a dietary program employing essential fatty acids
to address the decreased oxygenation of the tumor cell. The use of essential
fatty acids and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the treatment of cancer is
considered by our columnist who has the final word in these pages, Melvyn Werbach,
MD. And, in his editorial this month, Alan Gaby, MD, debunks omega-6 fatty acids
from corn oil as a treatment for cardiovascular disease.
Our discussion of alternative
cancer therapies is ambitious, and we hope that you will read not only the printed
magazine but check out the Townsend Letterwebsite (www.townsendletter.com) for a complete discussion of all the cancer
articles. Professor Serge Jurasunas in Lisbon, Portugal, reviews cancer treatment
addressing anti-angiogenesis and oxidative stress. Monique Beljanski reports
on the use of plant extracts developed by Mirko Beljanski, PhD, in the treatment
of prostate cancer. Shari Lieberman, PhD, reviews the use of a palladium formulation
in the treatment of multiple myeloma. And Reagan Houston reviews the application
of vitamin C in treating cancer.
Finally we are pleased to announce that Alternative
Medicine Magazine has just
published the second edition of their Definitive Guide
to Cancer. The book is
reviewed in this issue, and we have included an extended excerpt from the book
in this issue.
Jonathan Collin, MD
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