Origins of the Issels Treatment
Dr. Christian N. Issels, ND, the founder of the Issels Medical Center, builds his work upon the foundation of a long remarkable track record with integrative medicine. He is the son of the late Dr. Josef M. Issels, who was a world-renowned pioneer of integrative cancer medicine.
Dr. Josef M. Issels was the first to integrate conventional and alternative/ complementary treatments into a comprehensive treatment program that focuses on both the cancer tumor and the internal bodily environment, which promotes the tumor growth.
In 1951 in Germany, Dr. Josef M. Issels was the first to open a hospital for patients suffering from advanced metastatic cancer who had exhausted conventional treatments. The hospital specialized in comprehensive immunotherapy. In 1970, because of its treatment results, the hospital grew from 80 to 120 patient beds and expanded its extensive research facilities including the immunological, microbiological, dental and hyperthermia departments.
The Issels Treatment has become internationally known for its remarkable outcomes in the treatment of patients suffering from advanced cancers that had exhausted conventional treatments. These patients remained cancer free for many years or decades.*
Since the late 1960s all German health care providers, including the equivalent of US Medicare covered the treatment at the Issels hospital.
In 1970, the British Broadcasting Corporation, London, aired a 60-minute TV documentary in its Tomorrow’s World Program on Dr. Issels’ work.
From 1981 until his retirement in 1987, Dr. Issels served as an expert member of the German Federal Government Commission in the Fight Against Cancer.
In May 2005, Dr. Josef Issels was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Orthomolecular Medicine.
Dr. Josef Issels presented many papers to national and international medical congresses and within programs of continuing education. He also published three monographs. Independent statistical studies on his treatment and its results have been published in peer-reviewed medical journals.
* DISCLAIMER: The extent of the response to treatment varies from patient to patient, even with similar diagnosis as the internal bodily environment is unique to each individual patient.
>>> For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on Treatment and Costs please click here or call 1.888.374.7735
The Issels Concept of the Development of Cancer and Its Treatment
The Issels Treatment is based on the concept that --
- Cancer does not develop in a healthy body with intact defense and repair functions.
- Cancer presents in a specific internal environment, which promotes its growth.
- This environment develops due to multiple causes and condition, which vary from one individual to the other.
- These causes usually remain chronically active even after removal of the tumor by surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy.
- The Issels Treatment program places equal importance on the removal of the tumor itself and of the causes and conditions leading to the body's tendency to develop malignant tumors.
Explanation of the Issels Concept and the Diagram below:
Pre-and postnatal endogenous and exogenous causal factors (I) can lead by mutagenic, toxic, sensitizing or neural effects via the transit mesenchyme to secondary damages to organs and organ systems and so to functional disturbances of the neural, hormonal, excretory and defense systems (II).
These secondary damages and especially the disturbance of the detoxification system deteriorate the internal environment, and can lead to complex metabolic disturbances which are common to all chronic disease and cancer.
Further constant influence of the causal factors and the persistence of secondary damages can produce a functional imbalance and deteriorate the defense and repair mechanisms. Depending on inherited constitution and disposition, this can develop into a chronic degenerative disease and a "tumor-milieu," (III) the ideal medium for cancer cells and micro-organisms found in cancer to grow.
The body has acquired the tendency to produce malignant tumors. With the manifestation of the tumor (IV), the cancer disease enters the recognizable phase.
At this time, conventional cancer treatment begins with the weapons directed against the cancer tumor and its symptoms (V).
According to the concept that cancer starts as a locally confined growth, all measures concentrated on the tumor alone seem causal and exhaustive. Treating the tumor alone is not treating the condition that is producing it: the underlying cancer disease. Consequently, there is a high rate of recurrence.
According to the comprehensive concept, however, cancer is considered a systemic disease from the onset and the tumor as its late stage symptom.
Following this concept the Issels Treatment has two lines of approach, which are of equal importance and complement each other :
- A non-specific basic therapy aiming to eliminate the causal factors, repair damages of the early stages, normalize the internal milieu, and restore the regulatory, repair and immune functions.
- A specific therapy directed against the tumor itself, such as surgery, radiation, and chemo/hormone therapy.
The Non-Specific Basic Therapy corresponds with the etiological path leading to the immuno-insufficiency and the cancer disease. It is modified to suit the individual patient's needs. It consists of:
- Elimination of causal factors, such as malnutrition, abnormal intestinal flora, head foci of infection, fields of neural disturbance, physical and chemical exogenous factors, endogenous and psychological factors.
- Desensitization of the organism which has been sensitized by causal factors by administration of autohemolysates and colloids.
- Treatment of secondary damages, metabolic disturbances, the impaired detoxification and the resulting defense weakness, by general measures including oxidative therapy, enzymatic therapy, neural therapy, homeopathy, glandulars, as well as substitution/supplementation according to individual requirements.
The Basic Therapy is a long-term one without any toxic side effects and aims at the regeneration of the "big resistance," which comprises all the defense zones:
- The Extracorporeal Zone consisting of the physiological obligatory microflora which is responsible for the basic immunity of the organism;
- The Epithelial Zone consisting of all epithelial surfaces, which performs defense, filtration, excretion and absorption; and
- The Lympho-Reticulo Defense Zone which performs the important tasks of phagocytosis, antibody production and detoxification. On this zone, immunotherapy is mainly centered today.
- The Reticulo-Histiocytary Zone, which has been neglected in cancer therapy and research, is the pluripotent mesenchyme embracing almost half of the body weight. It is of great importance to all defensive processes with its various functions: the stem cell function; the transit function that intervenes between all nerves, organ cells, blood, lymphatic and intestinal cells; the homeostatic function; and the defense, detoxification and storage functions.
These defense zones are successive, closely interrelated and under neuro-hormonal control. The blockade of only one function of one of these zones, for example of the excretion or even the blockade of the control system, such as the autonomic nervous system, may contribute indirectly to a lowering of the defense potential.
Many years of experience has shown that even in an advanced stage of malignant disease, an immune reaction with complete tumor remission can be achieved.
* DISCLAIMER: The extent of the response to treatment varies from patient to patient, even with similar diagnosis as the internal bodily environment is unique to each individual patient.
>>> For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on Treatment and Costs please click here or call 1.888.374.7735
Holistic comprehensive immunotherapy opens up the following therapeutic possibilities:
- Follow-up treatment after standard cancer therapy to reduce the risk of recurrence through restoration of the patient's defense and repair functions (the world average rate of recurrence of cancer is about 50%).
- Treatment of cancer of all types and stages to help improve the chances of recovery.
- Nontoxic preventive treatment for patients at risk, and those with pre-cancerous diseases.
- Treatment of chronic degenerative diseases.
>>> For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on Treatment and Costs please click here or call 1.888.374.7735