Stomach Cancer
Stomach Cancer also called gastric cancer refers to the growth of a cancerous tumor in the stomach. It can develop in any part of the stomach and grow along the stomach wall into the esophagus or small intestine.
It also may extend through the stomach wall and spread to nearby lymph nodes and to organs such as the liver, pancreas and colon. Stomach cancer also may spread to distant organs, such as the lungs, the lymphnodes above the collar bone, and the ovaries. When stomach cancer spreads to an ovary, the tumor in the ovary is called a Krukenberg tumor.
Each year, about 24,000 people in the United States are diagnosed as suffering from stomach cancer.
The disease affects men twice as often as women, and is more common in Afro-American people than in Caucasian people. Stomach cancer is more common in Japan, Korea, parts of Eastern Europe, and Latin America than in the United States. People in these areas eat many foods that are preserved by drying, smoking, salting, or pickling. Scientists believe that eating foods preserved in these ways may play a role in the development of stomach cancer. On the other hand, fresh foods (especially fresh fruits and vegetables and properly frozen or refrigerated fresh foods) may protect against this disease.
Some studies suggest that a type of bacteria called Helicobacter pilori, which may cause stomach inflammation and ulcers, may be an important risk factor for this disease.
The overall five-year survival rate for people with stomach cancer in the United States is 22%. One reason for this is that most stomach cancers are found at an advanced stage. The outlook for survival is worse, if the cancer is in the upper part of the stomach.
However, even if standard treatments have reached their limits, patients suffering from Stomach 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 stomach 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 stomach 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, nutritional imbalances, consumption of certain foods such as smoked foods, among other eating habits, hormonal and psychological factors, along with other immune suppressive factors play an important part in the development of gastro-intestinal cancer. The bacteria, Helicobacter pilori has been found by researchers to be a risk factor for the development of stomach 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 lifestyle.
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