Liver Cancer
Liver Cancer refers to the growth of a malignant tumor within the liver, which is one of the largest organs in the human body. The liver is located in the upper right side of the abdomen and is essential to human life. It performs many vital functions such as digestion, detoxification, production of certain blood proteins, and other very important tasks.
There are 2 categories of liver cancer:
- Primary liver cancer -- The most common primary liver cancer is called hepatocellular carcinoma, which is known to arise in the liver cells.
- Secondary liver cancer or liver metastases -- These are cancers that originated in other organs and spread to the liver.
Primary cancers of the liver or hepatocellular cancers have historically been quite uncommon in the United States, in contrast to the Far East where it is the most common cancer. However, the incidence per hundred thousand lives in the USA has essentially doubled in the last decade alone from 1.4 % to 2.5 %. This rate is climbing because of the rapid increase in the number of people in the population with the Hepatitis C Virus.
The five-year survival rate with this type of cancer is very low. The largest group of patients in whom aggressive local therapies can help many patients and cure some is the group with colorectal cancer. Each year in the United States about 150,000 patients develop cancer of the colon or rectum. Around fifty percent of these patients will either have a cancer that has already spread to the liver or they will present in future years with metastatic cancer to the liver. When the cancer spreads only to the liver, as is the case in about half of these patients, the prognosis is better but not yet satisfactory.
However, even if standard treatments have reached their limits, patients suffering from liver cancer have treatment options.*
At the Issels Medical Center we have integrated advanced, research-based alternative/complementary and conventional therapies into a comprehensive immunobiological treatment concept that has a 50 year history.
Treatment
The Treatment Program is a comprehensive strategy for liver cancer of all types and stages.*
It is a two-pronged attack and consists of:
- Non-toxic Immunobiological Treatments designed to attack the cancer and at the same time restore the natural mechanisms of regulation, repair and defense.
- Standard Treatments aimed at the removal or reduction of the cancerous cells and tumors, when indicated and possible.
Each treatment program is specifically designed to meet the individual patient's needs and consists of components that complement one another.
>>> For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on Treatment and Costs please click here or call 1.888.374.7735
Rationale
In liver cancer patients, as in all cancer patients, the body's regulatory, repair and immune mechanisms fail to prevent formation of a cancerous tumor. This failure is called by some researchers a "regulatory freeze" or "tolerance," which is due to a combination of causal factors that vary from one individual patient to the other.
The comprehensive immunobiological treatment offered at the Issels Medical Center aims to break through the "regulatory freeze". It is a unique blend of treatment modalities that complement and enhance one another in an effort to attack the cancer and at the same time restore the body's regulatory, repair and immune systems
Evidence is growing that in addition to genetic disposition, western lifestyle, Hepatitis C Virus, nutritional imbalances, hormonal and psychological factors, as well as environmental challenges, along with other immune suppressive factors play an important part in the development of liver cancer.
The criteria of diagnosing and staging are the same for every patient suffering from a specific type of cancer. However, even if the histological diagnosis shows the same type of cancerous cell and the staging shows the same state of progression, every patient has his/her own individual cancer as a result from many different combinations of causal factors ranging from inherited constitution and disposition to adapted life style.
Findings of modern research indicate that it is not only the type of cancerous cells that determines the course of the disease, but also the extra-cellular matrix, the medium on which these cells grow, i.e. the internal bodily environment, and the power of the natural defenses against cancer.
Cancer cells develop in every human being, in fact in every vertebrate organism, according to L. Thomas and other researchers. However, not every newly produced cancer cell leads to a tumor, as the body possesses a natural defense system, an immune surveillance according to M. Burnet. An intact immune system and intact regulation of physiological cell death, called apoptosis, protect the organism from the development of a cancerous tumor. Therefore, it is of great importance to restore the natural regulatory, repair and immune mechanisms, as a part of the healing strategy, or as prevention from the outbreak or progression of the disease.
Statistical studies show that the incidence of recurrent cancer can be reduced considerably, if the patient takes action to strengthen the immune system instead of wasting precious time by passively waiting for the next test results.
Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, although having made great strides in their ability to eradicate cancer cells and tumors, are merely aimed at the malignancy and ignore, and sometimes aggravate, the underlying condition, which led to the formation of the tumor in the first place.
Unless the preconditions for the growth of cancerous tumors are corrected, the high risk of disease progression and recurrence remains.
* 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