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OAM Cancer Workshop A Great Success
While the rest of the U.S. watched the June D-Day ceremonies televised
from Normandy, some 110 persons packed a Bethesda, MD, motel room
designed to hold 50. They were there to gain greater insight into
the methodologies for testing alternative therapies for cancer.
Organized and chaired by OAM’s Aron Primack, MD, the workshop’s
knowledgeable faculty of 13 laid out in meticulous detail the required
elements for quality studies of alternative cancer therapies.
The day’s full agenda included such topics as patient recruitment
and selection, single- and double-blind studies, "pitfalls"
in pathology and radiology, data collection, ways to measure a study’s
endpoints, and the concept of the "best case series."
Looking for Success
Mary McCabe, RN, of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of
Cancer Treatment (DCT) introduced the session on "best case
series." She said DCT, as part of its search for possible new
cancer therapies, developed the concept of the "best case series"
in 1991. Under this approach, DCT invites investigators to present
their "best cases," their best documented success stories.
The approach permits DCT to explore possible therapies from a very
wide range of both orthodox and alternative research.
"Best cases" is not a funding program; however, if a
therapy presented in this manner seems to merit further investigation,
NCI may fund Phase II and, if indicated, Phase III clinical trials.
Three "Best Cases"
Nicholas J. Gonzalez, MD, a practicing physician in New York City,
was invited to present 25 of his "best cases" to DCT in
July 1993. Dr. Gonzalez claimed to have achieved extraordinary survival
rates among patients with pancreatic and liver cancers, two of the
most aggressive and swiftly fatal human cancers.
At the June 6 cancer workshop, Dr. Gonzalez followed Ms. McCabe
to the lectern and presented three of those 25 "best cases"
(see p3, this issue).
A report of the June 6 workshop is due later this year. AM
"Best Cases" of an Enzyme-Based Cancer
Therapy
By Nicholas J. Gonzalez, MD, New York, New York
My therapy has three components: diet, supplementation with nutrients
and enzymes, and detoxification. The diets range from a pure vegetarian
program to one requiring fatty red meat daily.
The supplement programs include vitamins, minerals, trace elements,
and large quantities of pancreatic enzymes, which provide the anti-cancer
action. Each cancer patient consumes about 160 capsules daily. Dr.
John Beard, a Scottish embryologist, first suggested in 1904 that
the pancreas enzymes are the body’s main defense against cancer.
Dr. Beard’s 1911 monograph, The Enzyme Therapy of Cancer,
summarized his theory.
Basic science supports this work. In 1965, Leighton King, a researcher
at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Arizona, reported complete prevention
of tumors in a test group of C3H mice carrying Bittner’s milk factor
virus; they received oral pancreatin. The control group had 100
percent tumor occurrence. In a second article, King proposed an
immune enhancement effect for ingested pancreatin in an experimental
group of Swiss mice.
I suspect the proteolytic proteins have a direct anti-cancer capability,
as well as activity mediated via immune enhancement. Whatever the
pathway, normal tissues seen completely unaffected. Furthermore,
although many scientists believe orally ingested enzymes will be
degraded in the gut, King’s animal work and my own experience indicate
otherwise.
The third component of my therapy – detoxification – incorporates
many techniques, including coffee enemas that are believed to stimulate
liver function.
On July 7, 1993, at the NCI I presented 25 histories of my "best
cases": patients with diagnosed, biopsy-proven cancer who enjoyed
either documented regression of disease or long-term survival on
their nutritional protocol. Here are three of those 25 cases:
I. F., a 68-year-old woman, underwent a left mastectomy for carcinoma
in July 1987; 1 of 7 lymph nodes was found positive. She was initially
treated with tamoxifen; but when a CAT scan in September 1988 showed
metastatic disease in both lobes of the liver, she was started on
CMF chemotherapy (Cytoxan, methotrexate, and 5-fluoracil). After
5 months of treatment, a repeat scan showed enlargement of the lesions,
and chemotherapy was discontinued.
F. came to see me in June 1989 and entered the program; 11 months
later, a CAT scan showed a 30 percent reduction in her liver tumors.
In 1992 another scan showed a 95 percent reduction in her tumors.
She continued to do well after 5 years on the program.
II. J., a 50-year-old businesswoman, underwent right breast lumpectomy
for carcinoma in November 1986. J. did well until July 1989, when
her physician detected a mass in her right breast. A lumpectomy
documented poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. An abdominal ultrasound
revealed a density in the right lobe of the liver; a needle biopsy
confirmed carcinoma.
J. began CMF chemotherapy, but in November 1989, after completing
three cycles, she refused further treatment. At that point there
had been no improvement in her liver lesions. For several months
she did nothing. She then learned of my work and, in April 1990,
she began the program. After two years on her protocol, she felt
so well that, without my knowledge, she discontinued the protocol.
In July 1991 she suffered a gran mal seizure; a CAT scan
revealed two brain lesions.
J. immediately resumed her full program, and showed rapid improvement
in all symptoms. CAT scans of both the head and the abdomen on April
17, 1992, were completely normal and she remains well.
III. G. is a 55-year-old woman who noticed a right breast mass
which her doctor diagnosed as mastitis in mid-1984. In August 1985
her right breast suddenly enlarged; a biopsy revealed poorly differentiated
adenocarcinoma and inflammatory breast disease. In September 1985
G. began radiotherapy to the chest wall; in November 1985 she underwent
a right modified mastectomy. The pathology report describes carcinoma
in 17 of the 17 axillary nodes. After surgery G. began chemotherapy
with CMF, which she continued for 2 years. However, in August 1987
a bone scan documented increased activity in the sternum, confirmed
as metastases.
G. learned of my work and began her program in December 1987. Today,
after six years, she follows her nutritional regimen and is in excellent
health.
After my presentation, NCI suggested I carry out a closely monitored,
1-year pilot study of 10 patients with pancreatic cancer. We have
an advisory panel of cancer researchers to monitor the project,
which is fully funded under a private grant. We hope to see significant
results within 18 months. AM
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