Chemotherapy, benefits and risks

Women undergoing chemotherapy to treat breast cancer have complained of various side effects, ranging from dizziness to hair loss.

Recent research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has identified eight serious side effects associated with chemotherapy.

Fever and infection are the main reasons someone visits the hospital. Other serious side effects are low white blood cell and platelet (platelet) counts and electrolyte disturbances that can lead to dehydration.

"Women must be aware of the negative side effects caused by chemotherapy, but on the other hand they should not decide not to do chemotherapy solely based on the conclusions of our study," said Dr. Michael Hassett, the leader of the research team who is also a medical advisor at Harvard Medical School.

Research conducted by Dr. This Hassett is indeed not a randomized controlled trial, namely a type of careful investigation that is needed to change clinical practice guidelines. However, several similar studies are currently underway, aimed at looking for various side effects associated with chemotherapy. Meanwhile, continuous improvement efforts have been made in the treatment of chemotherapy patients.

"Doctors have gone to great lengths to prevent some of the common side effects of chemotherapy, namely nausea," says Dr. Jennifer J. Grigg, a professor in the department of internal medicine who also serves as chair of the Breast Cancer Survivorship Program at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor.

"After all, doctors also routinely give colony stimulating factors," added Dr. Griggs. "These injections increase the supply of white blood cells which are useful for fighting infection, and this method appears to reduce the risk of fever and other infections."

Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment, meaning that it works throughout the body to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be done before surgery or radiation to reduce the size of the tumor, and can also be done afterwards to kill remaining cancer cells.

Besides its very effective benefits against the rapid growth of cancer cells, chemotherapy also affects normal cells, this is what causes side effects. Apart from nausea and hair loss, other common side effects are feeling tired (tired), vomiting, decreased blood cell count, sore mouth and pain. This is said by the US National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Hassett and his colleagues conducted a study to determine the number, causes, and costs caused by serious side effects of chemotherapy. They evaluated data on more than 12,000 women aged 63 and under who had been newly diagnosed with breast cancer. A total of 4,075 of them received chemotherapy.

They found that chemotherapy patients had a 61% chance of suffering from illness that required them to be hospitalized or outpatient, while those who did not receive chemotherapy only had a 42% chance. Chemotherapy patients also add an average cost of $1,271 per year to treat chemotherapy side effects.

Dr. Hassett suggests considering the benefits and side effects of chemotherapy before deciding to go through with it. Discussions with cancer specialists also need to be done.

[From pharmacist.info ]

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Cisplatin and its impact on female fertility

Researchers from Italy say they have identified a mechanism by which chemotherapy can make a woman lose her chances of having children.

Curiously, scientists also discovered that another anti-cancer drug could counteract the negative symptoms of the chemotherapy drug, cisplatin.

The discovery, demonstrated in mice and reported online in Nature Medicine, raises hopes for a way to protect a woman's fertility while on treatment for cancer but, the study authors stress, may still be completely wrong.

"The extension of these findings to patients and designing clinical trials is likely to require the development of targeted drug delivery strategies to prevent any potential interference with anti-cancer therapy systems," explained study author Stefania Gonfloni, from the biology department at the University of Rome.

"I think it's a great idea. They found a pathway that can be used as a marker to detect which drugs will result in cells dying as a result of chemotherapy, and they found a drug that has a remedial effect," said Dr. George Attia, an associate professor of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "But this is very basic scientific research. It is still preliminary."

Because chemotherapy affects the egg cells in the ovaries, women usually end up with ovarian failure and infertility as a result of cancer treatment.

"We often work with women who are of reproductive age, and there is a lot of concern about maintaining fertility even in older women, chemo causes menopause." said dr. Igor Astsaturov, an assistant professor of medical oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. "The current standard approach is to retrieve the eggs for storage and use at a later date."

Chemotherapy can also cause genetic defects in offspring. In particular, cisplatin, which was studied in this study, causes damage to certain types of chromosomes. Cisplatin is commonly used in treating uterine cancer, notes Attia.

In this study, Gonfloni and co-workers showed that cisplatin causes the death of oocytes or germ cells in women, originating from the enzyme c-Abl, a protein that, when mutated, can also cause chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

But targeting the enzyme with imatinib (Gleevec), a drug used to treat CML, protects oocytes from the deleterious effects of cisplatin.

"These results raise the possibility of protecting ovarian function during cancer treatment, thereby preserving the fertility of women who have survived cancer," said Gonfloni.

But how to use one drug without harming the other?

"First, we have to show that imatinib can be used to prevent chemotherapy-induced ovarian toxicity without interfering with anti-cancer medication." Gonfloni said. "In other words, we have to prove that laboratory animals with tumors can be cured by the combination of cisplating and imatinib treatment, while at the same time, preserving fertility," he explained.

"Then, for any clinical implications, it will be very important to prove the same protective effect of a certain dose of imtinib in human oocytes maintained and challenged with chemotherapy drugs in vitro," he added.

And fertility maintenance isn't always the right thing, says Astsaturov. "Chemotherapy causes menopause for some cancer patients who are dependent on several hormones . This is a beneficial effect because it removes stimulants for cancer cells . Menopause is a contribution to recovery," he said. "It is debatable whether we should maintain menstrual function in any way."

From MedicalEra

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After Mastectomy, Herceptin, Tamoxifen, Xeloda and Tykerb

Fransisca is from Jakarta, thirty-two years old when she found a 1.6 cm lump in her left breast which was eventually diagnosed as cancer. 

It's a tragic story but it's happened again and again – breast cancer progressed to stage IV and has no cure. What's wrong? In reality nothing is wrong. Fransiska followed what her doctor wanted her to do.

Fransiska Died After Surgery, Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy, Herceptin, Tamoxifen, Xeloda and Tykerb

(Life on earth is an experience. Let Frances' death be a valuable lesson for those like her)

Fransiska, originally from Jakarta, was thirty-two years old when she found a 1.6 cm lump in her left breast which was eventually diagnosed as cancer. At the same time his father died of cancer. In November 2004, he underwent surgery to remove a lump at a hospital in Singapore. Unfortunately some of the lymph nodes in his armpit were also infected. After the operation, Fransiska received thirty-five radiation treatments. He felt better after that.

In January 2007, that is, two years after radiation therapy, Fransiska was informed that her cancer had spread to her lungs. He did chemotherapy and got six cycles of Taxol and Herceptin injections. One injection of Herceptin costs 2,500 S$ and Fransiska has been injected eight times. Her oncologist had to continue with Herceptin, but Fransiska decided to stop after eight injections because she could no longer afford the treatment.

In July 2007, Fransiska received Tamoxifen therapy. A month later, a scan of her bones showed the cancer had spread to her spine at T12.

In January 2008, his brain scan showed an 8 x 7 mm mass in his brain. And also seen a mass of 1.4 x 9.0 cm in his heart. Fransiska was asked by her doctor to stop therapy with Tamoxifen. He was prescribed oral medication for cancer – Xeloda and Tykerb (lapatinib). Three weeks of treatment with Tykerb costs S$2,500.

Fransiska told us that she was aware of the "bad side effects" of her medical therapy, but that she had no other choice. He didn't know what else to do except follow the doctor's advice.

In November 2004, Fransiska started a schedule for drinking juice with apples, beet roots, and carrots (ABC). He also uses apricot kernels (a source of vitamin B17), cloves, medicinal liquid from a mixture of black walnuts (black walnut) and roots. In addition, he also uses IP6, spirulina, Perfect Food, and high doses of Vitamin C. He stopped consuming everything in 2007 when the cancer spread to his lungs.

In February 2005, he undertook a detoxification and rejuvenation program with an ABC juice and coffee enema program. He continued all this until he saw blood in his urine. He stopped this program. Frances also consumes pineapple and papaya.

Fransiska is aware of the need to consume healthy food. She consumes fruit and vegetable juices, she also avoids white sugar, oil, eggs, all meats and fast food. He consumed shark fins but after a while he stopped because it was not effective.

He had headaches, nausea, and his blood pressure was very low. Fransiska came back to her oncologist in August 2008. Scans showed the cancer had spread to her brain. The results of a CT scan of the abdomen (stomach) show:

• Metastases in both lobes of the liver. The largest lesion was in the left lobe measuring 2.0 x 1.8 cm and the largest in the right lobe measuring 1.5 x 1.4 cm.

• Stable sclerosis of the T12 vertebral body.

Oncologists concluded this cancer had progressed and suggested two options:

• Fransiska is undergoing chemotherapy again plus Lapatinib, or,

• He continued to use Lapatinib; receives regular injections to strengthen her bones and therapy to relieve her menopausal symptoms. Previously, Fransiska was treated with Zoladex to stop her menstruation.

• Fransiska often writes to us asking for help. The last email I received from him was on October 30, 2008 when he was complaining of digestive problems. I am sad to inform you that Fransiska fell into a coma and died 2 years later, in mid-December 2008. Her death came four years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Even the most expensive and newest drugs for cancer could not help him.

Comments : This is indeed a tragic story but it has happened again and again – breast cancer progressed to stage IV and has no cure. What's wrong? In reality nothing is wrong. Fransiska followed what her doctor wanted her to do. He runs the Art of medical therapy in Singapore. Yee, a 40-year-old woman from Penang also died in the same way. She has early stage breast cancer. Performing surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, consuming Tamoxifen and Tykerb in addition to Herceptin. He ended up with metastases to the lungs, bones, liver and finally to his brain. He died after spending over 100,000 RM on his therapy.

At CA Care, with our experience of more than thirteen years, we see three phenomena that often occur in breast cancer patients.

1. First, our data shows that breast cancer patients (in Malaysia) who undergo surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and take Tamoxifen experience spread to the bones, lungs, etc. after several years. Patients (in Indonesia) who switch to traditional medicine or who do not follow standard medical therapy do not suffer extensive metastases or eventually suffer extensive metastases.


2. Young patients who undergo the full package of medical therapy for breast cancer tend to suffer from more severe metastases.


3. Now that Herceptin is available, we are starting to see patients with brain metastases. Is there a correction regarding this treatment and its relationship with metastases in the brain?
   

We recognize that our research is a joke and therefore can be disproved. A research on the internet provides some conclusions that are valuable enough to serve as a record.

The Boston Globe ( A new peril for breast cancer survivors by Liz Kowalczk, 7 February 2006) tells the story of Amy Socia who was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 43 years old. She underwent mastectomy, breast reconstructive surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Despite medical therapy the cancer spread to his liver and spine. Amy was prescribed what we call a promising drug – Herceptin – and “miraculously” her cancer began to shrink! But it's not for long. Not long after that (five years after he was first diagnosed) two tumors appeared in his brain. This led Amy to conclude: There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer. It just won't go away. You just move from one therapy to another.”Amy's story is not much different from Fransiska's.

Fransiska was treated with lapatinib (Tykerb) and capecitabine (Xeloda). This modern therapy was shown in one study “to shrink brain metastases significantly in six percent of 241 patients.” (significantly reduced percentage of brain metastases in 6 percent of 241 patients). On the official website of  www.tykerb.com, we can read the following information:

• There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer, but it is treatable.

• Some women may develop and develop liver damage while taking Tykerb. In some cases, liver damage may be fatal and cause death.

• Side effects of Tykerb are: nausea, vomiting, burning sensation in the pit of the stomach, loss of appetite, redness, pain in the hands and feet, skin rash, dry skin, pain in the lips, mouth, or throat, pain in the hands, feet, or back pain, difficulty sleeping or staying asleep, shortness of breath, cough, cough with bloody or pink sputum, fast and irregular heartbeat, fatigue or weakness and swelling of the hands, feet, ankles or calves.

Patients must remember that treating cancer does not mean it can be cured! To treat means to spend a lot of money but the therapy cannot cure. Shrinking the tumor also does not mean cured! Lapatinib causes liver damage. Isn't this what happened in France's case?

Side effects of Herceptin include: Fever and chills (common at first treatment), respiratory and heart failure, diarrhea, headache, nausea and vomiting, pain, rash on the skin, and weakness. However, the most displeasing of the reports about Herceptin are the brain metastases.

The December 13, 2001 report by Robert Carlson states:

• It is known that breast cancer patients with metastases are more likely to develop bone metastases, but patients taking Herceptin show an increased risk of brain metastases compared to bone metastases.

Journal, Cancer (15 June 2003, Vol: 97:2972-2977), states:

• Metastasis of breast carcinoma to the brain is common in patients receiving treatment with the drug Herceptin.

• Approximately 6 to 16% of women with metastatic breast cancer have spread to the brain but patients receiving Herceptin as first aid therapy are at greater risk of developing CNS (brain) disease (42%)

Questions you might ask : What does the above observation have to do with the spread in France's brain? What could have happened to Fransiska's indifference – Will she die of breast cancer in 4 years? What might be the real cause of Francisco's death?

Source:  cancercare
Read also: Case No. 2 and Cancer, But They're Still Alive!

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Chemotherapy risks

After years of telling the public that chemotherapy is the only way to get rid of cancer, Johns Hopkins Hospital is finally starting to say there is another way. In late 2008 Johns Hopkins Hospital included this news in its newsletters. This information is also being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Everyone has cancer cells. These cancer cells do not show up in standard tests until they have multiplied by the millions.

When a doctor tells a patient that 'there are no more cancer cells' after undergoing treatment, it means that the tests carried out were unable to detect cancer cells because these cells were below the size/number that could be detected. The cancer cells grew between 6 up to more than 10 times in the human life span.

When a person's immune system is high, cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

When a person has cancer it indicates that the person is experiencing some nutritional deficiencies. This can occur due to genetics, environment, food and way of life.

To overcome nutritional deficiencies and strengthen the immune system can be achieved by changing the diet (how to eat) and adding supplements.

Chemotherapy poisons fast-growing cancer cells, but at the same time destroys healthy-growing cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract and others, and can cause damage to other organs, such as the liver, kidneys, heart , lungs and others.

While radiation, along with its function of destroying cancer cells, also causes burns, leaves scars, and damages healthy cells, tissues, and organs.

Early treatment with chemotherapy and radiation can reduce tumor size. However, prolonged application of chemotherapy and radiation will not result in further tumor reduction.

When the body is burdened with excessive toxins from chemotherapy and radiation, the immune system will be threatened or destroyed, which is why a person will experience various kinds of infections and complications.

Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other places.

An effective way to fight cancer is to starve it, that is, by depriving cells of the food they need to reproduce.

Among other things, cancer cells eat sugar. Eliminating sugar in food intake means eliminating the main food for cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and others are made with aspartame, and it's dangerous.

A more natural substitute is Manuka honey or molasses, but only in small amounts. Table salt contains chemical additives to make it white. Better alternatives are bragg's aminos or sea salt.

Also milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Mucus is also food for cancer cells. By eliminating milk and substituting soy milk (without sugar) cancer cells will be starved.


Read also: Believe it or not?

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The combination of Tamoxifen and Seroxat causes death

WOMEN who are taking the antidepressant drug Seroxat at the same time as drugs used to stop breast cancer from recurring are at greater risk of dying from this cancer. Researchers have found that Seroxat can interact with tamoxifen , which is prescribed to breast cancer survivors for five years continuously.

This finding has major implications because many of these women also suffer from depression. About one in four patients suffers from depression. However, other types of antidepressants do not have the same effect.

Interfere with the effectiveness of tamoxifen
In this study, researchers from the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center and the University of Toronto in Canada studied 2,430 women aged 66 or over. All participants were on medication between 1993 and 2005. All participants were taking tamoxifen and one in five participants were taking antidepressants, including Seroxat , which is the most commonly prescribed.

Over the next two years, 374 patients died from breast cancer. The analysis showed that those who took Seroxat had a greater risk of dying from breast cancer and a slightly greater risk of dying from other causes, than women who did not use the drug.

Researchers found that if patients used Seroxat for 25 percent of the total time they used tamoxifen , their risk of dying from breast cancer increased by 24 percent.

When Seroxat was taken for 50 percent of the total time on tamoxifen, the risk of death increased independently by 54 percent and when taken for 75 percent of the total time tamoxifen was used the risk of death increased by 91 percent.

"In conclusion, our findings indicate that the choice of antidepressants greatly affects the survival of women using tamoxifen for breast cancer," explained the researchers, as quoted by the dailymail.com website.

However, the researchers emphasized that women should not stop taking tamoxifen . In addition, the researchers also stated that their study did not indicate that Seroxat causes or affects breast cancer. "This study simply shows that Seroxat interferes with the effectiveness of tamoxifen .

"When a prescription for tamoxifen and antidepressants is needed, it is better to choose an antidepressant that does not affect the metabolism of tamoxifen," explained one of the researchers, Dr. David Juurlink. A spokesperson for Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK), which manufactures Seroxat, stated that the company was aware of the association and updated the warning on the Seroxat label in 2008. "Following the publication of this new research, GSK will review this additional data and will work with policy makers to determine next steps." (OL-08)


Source: MEDIA INDONESIA

Read also report msnbc.comabout almost the same issue here .

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