Posted on 11/25/2008 1:53:41 AM PST by neverdem
Cancer researchers have known for years that it was possible in rare cases for some cancers to go away on their own. There were occasional instances of melanomas and kidney cancers that just vanished. And neuroblastoma, a very rare childhood tumor, can go away without treatment.
But these were mostly seen as oddities — an unusual pediatric cancer that might not bear on common cancers of adults, a smattering of case reports of spontaneous cures. And since almost every cancer that is detected is treated, it seemed impossible even to ask what would happen if cancers were left alone.
Now, though, researchers say they have found a situation in Norway that has let them ask that question about breast cancer. And their new study, to be published Tuesday in The Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that even invasive cancers may sometimes go away without treatment and in larger numbers than anyone ever believed.
At the moment, the finding has no practical applications because no one knows whether a detected cancer will disappear or continue to spread or kill.
And some experts remain unconvinced.
“Their simplification of a complicated issue is both overreaching and alarming,” said Robert A. Smith, director of breast cancer screening at the American Cancer Society.
But others, including Robert M. Kaplan, the chairman of the department of health services at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, are persuaded by the analysis. The implications are potentially enormous, Dr. Kaplan said.
If the results are replicated, he said, it could eventually be possible for some women to opt for so-called watchful waiting, monitoring a tumor in their breast to see whether it grows. “People have never thought that way about breast cancer,” he added.
Dr. Kaplan and his colleague, Dr. Franz Porzsolt, an...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Thank you for your prayers. Prayer cannot be underestimated in any treatment.
You meet the nicest people in chemo rooms.
Many prayers for your health. I helped my mom go through 3 months of chemo and radiation last year. I took her to treatment everyday and agree with another’s statement that we should all spend a week at a cancer treatment facility. There is life going on in these places and I learned so much just watching my mom and others going through the cancer battle.The hard part was watching the ones that did not have family or friends with them everyday...but they soldiered on with hope and courage.
My screen name I’m afraid is a little off-putting. Yet I don’t want to change it since I’ve been on FreeRepublic since the fall of 1998 and I’m prouder of that long time association than I worry about my screen name.
I might have agreed with you until I read this....BWAAAAA!!!!
Top that with invasive procedures and chemo, and your odds of survival go way down. Of course, this doesn't apply to everyone.
You are WAY too trusting.
Who knows? There very well could have been people who had cancer, never knew it, and it went away without treatment.
I’ve been in health care for about 23 years now (19 as a RN), and have been around many patients with HIV and AIDS.
I had a kidney transplant this past May, and since my 16 year old donor had a history of substance abuse, I’m being tested for HIV and Hep C (I had been tested yearly prior to that, as a part of my annual transplant eval/re-eval, and was always negative). In September, someone in the transplant department ordered the “wrong test”; a HIV Western Blot, rather than the standard HIV 1 and 2 antibodies.
The results came back “inconclusive”; I had 1 antibody that was positive (on a Western Blot, 0 is negative, 1-2 is indeterminate, and 3-6 is positive for HIV). When I saw the Infectious Disease doc, he wasn’t at all worried (I was 20 weeks out from transplant, and by 24 weeks, the vast majority of those infected would be positive; I still remain negative on the “correct” test, and never had the flu-like illness that occurs with HIV infection).
My question to the ID doc was: could I have had an aborted infection, and have produced an antibody?
Of course, it’s possible, but there is no definitive answer, much the same as whether someone has ever had cancer (or any other disease), didn’t know they had it, and their body defeated it without treatment.
Perhaps Lord Obama, like the anointed Kings of England and France, will cure cancer by his touch.
Thank you.
One of my offspring works in cancer research. There is a lab procedure that is not published yet that takes advantage of this and sensitizes the patient's hunter/killer cells to certain types of cancer cells and in effect turns them into terminators for those cells. Very interesting stuff.
Maybe 200, that's about how many different types of cells there are. Treatment varies greatly. Any cures will be fairly specific. Many are from various genetic mutations. Some are from local stem cells gone wild.
Redefining Disease, Genes and All
Scientists are finding that two tumors that arise in the same part of the body and look the same on a pathologist’s slide might be quite different in terms of what is occurring at the gene and protein level. Certain breast cancers are already being treated differently from others because of genetic markers like estrogen receptor and Her2, and also more complicated patterns of genetic activity.
A Disturbance in the Neighborhood
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
I think I’ll stick with my “theory” (for which I have no scientific evidence-other than anecdotal): cancers-generally-are caused by “viroid” cells (cells which have viral characteristics),which can adapt themselves to infect any organ.
Removing an area in which these cells have been active-by surgery,radiation, or chemo- “frees” them to infect new areas via rapid adaptation.
For certain cancers -such as ovarian- the “best”-and most ethical treatment is palliation : keep the patient as comfortable as possible right up to the end.
“Melanoma is treated by boosting the immune system.”
Early in the 20th century one of the cures for skin cancer was exposure to sunlight. There were some clinics in Europe in the mountains where people would soak up the sun as therapy (there were reportedly cures, but I don’t know much about it).
Sunlight gets converted to Vitamin D in the body, which has been shown to prevent cancer.
My sentiments exactly. My grandmother lived seven years beyond the time she knew she had breast cancer and it was never treated. Her problem was she allowed a biopsy and it never healed properly.
Just this week I asked a friend how does she know if all the cancer treatments, surgeries, chemo, etc. that her sister is undergoing is prolonging her life even one day. She says she doesn't know that. That is an extremely important question to ask of a doctor.
I have a horrible fear for my precious 30 year old nephew who has been undergoing almost two years of chemo for a desmoid tumor. When we're talking young people of this age, we're talking serious business.
The Johanna Budwig diet certainly sounds worth exploring.
D is critical with cancer, both prevention and aid in combating it. it is interesting that the recurrence of Malignant melanoma is less for those who get sun compared to those who shun it. It is all in vitamin D.
Bless you for your words of encouragement and may you have many more.
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