One of the greatest fears we all face is being told we have cancer. Immediately this devastation evokes fears of death, of uncontrollable pain, of physical dependence and of the inability to any longer protect those that we love.
What have we accomplished with the billions and billions of dollars that have been spent over the last 28 years on finding a cure for cancer. Death rates from cancer of the lung, breast, pancreas, colon, bladder, prostate and pharynx have barely changed. Oncologists talk about their successes in terms of improved therapies and improved educational programs for clinicians and the general public.
Is this really good enough. One in every four people that die will die of cancer. About 1.2 million cancer cases will be diagnosed in 1998 and half a million will lose their lives. Just think everyday 1500 people in the U.S. die of cancer.
Cancer treatment often gives rise to side effects so harmful they compromise the benefits of treatment. Because these therapies often fail, physicians talk to their patients about chances of survival instead of providing solid assurances of recovery. Drug doses necessary to kill cancer cells also kill fast growing healthy cells such as those generating blood, hair, or the lining of the mouth, stomach and intestine. The resulting side effects: hair loss, nausea and diarrhea can be unpleasant or worse with not enough blood cells death by infection or bleeding can occur in a few weeks. All of this unpleasantness is usually accompanied by pain. U.S. studies have shown that at least one-third of all cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or other anti-tumor treatment and two-thirds of those with advanced cancer suffer significant discomfort. This unrelenting pain can erode a patient's willingness to continue treatment or even to live. Even the Director of the National Cancer Institute has complained that people are frustrated with the inadequacy of the current therapies.
Oncologists compliment themselves on a job well done and insist they're doing the best they can do to treat the disease. Everyone hopes that ongoing genetic research will find that unique gene will provide the instant cure. Soon into the next century the Human Genome Project will be completed and we will have a complete description of the DNA sequence. But before this work can be meaningful scientists still need to identify these genes' and under what conditions this gene products (proteins) express themselves.
Is there a possibility we can prevent cancer from unfolding; avoiding this misery and possible death. Scientists tell us that cancer is initiated when more than one mutation (an alteration in the genetic makeup) occurs in a single cell. These mutations are quite common and occur in just about all cells in a person's body. Now the cell has a number of defense mechanisms to correct these alterations in genetic material. It's when these safeguards are overwhelmed (do not function properly) that you can have the start of carcinogenesis. The expression of cancer is usually a stepwise process that may take 20 to 30 years to unfold.
So when informed by your doctor that you have a cancerous growth, it's most likely this cancer had been unfolding for several years before reaching this stage of diagnosis. If there was just some way to strengthen the defense mechanism to control this increase in mutations maybe this unfolding of the cancer could have been avoided.
Studies have demonstrated that there are corrective measures that can be taken to reduce the chance of cancer from ever occurring. Dr. Michael Sporn has pointed out that cardiovascular intervention strategies have been successful in reducing deaths from heart disease. The same could be done for cancer. With the proper prevention program then cancer could be prevented from getting started or stopped at its beginning rather than at a terminal stage. In fact, cancer prevention programs could be an extension of existing heart disease prevention programs. The major components are quite similar: no tobacco products, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly, avoid weight gains, reduce the intake of red meats and avoid excessive alcohol consumption. Other "common sense factors" include: avoid risky sexual practices and see that the proper authorities provide better control of known carcinogens in the environment and the workplace. (It has been shown that people that practice a lifestyle of abstinence seem to have an overall lower cancer death rate.)
Dr. Lee Wattenberg's studies over the last 25 or more years have even identified and characterized the specific chemicals in fruits and vegetables that help fight cancer from ever occurring. Clinical studies have shown that the ingestion of nutrient supplements and certain medications can reverse and suppress carcinogenesis. More research is needed to find natural or synthetic substances that "boost" the mechanisms that control the increase in mutations thus preventing or controlling the cancer before it becomes impossible to control. It has been found that a drug called tamoxifen may prevent breast cancer in women with increased risk but also may increase the risk of endometrial cancer. Research studies (Dr. Sporn & colleagues) are now underway in animals to see if you can administer lower doses of this medication, avoiding its serious side effect, by using it in combination with derivatives of vitamin A (retinoids) or vitamin D (deltanoids).
It has been estimated that if prevention programs (similar to what was briefly described above) were established there would be a reduction in cancer mortality by at least one-third even without new discoveries or technological development. Probably, to be most effective a person would have to start this program before the age of 30. After the age of 30 the incidence of cancer rises exponentially with increasing age.
Here's your "Window of "Opportunity". Make the Most of It...