Friday, April 27, 2012

Luekemia, Lymphoma Survival . . .


 "Five Year Survival Rates . . ."  what are the accurate statistics?

The Good News and not so Good News


Six years after diagnosis, this patient is considered "cured." He is getting on with his life and is a talented musician, devoting a lot of time to raising money for kids-with-cancer.

Statistics vary on "cancer cure" which are usually measured over a five year period from the diagnosis.

Here are some:

2010 StatisticsEstimated new casesEstimated deaths
Hodgkin's lymphoma8,4901,320
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma65,54020,210
Total lymphomas74,03021,530
Acute lymphocytic leukemia5,3301,420
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia14,9904,390
Acute myeloid leukemia12,3308,950
Chronic myeloid leukemia4,870440
Other leukemia5,5306,640
Total leukemias43,05021,840
TOTALS117,08043,370

 General Statistics
Leukemia accounts for about 33% of cancer cases in children aged 0-14
  • An estimated 1,340 cancer deaths are expected to occur among children aged 0-14 in 2010—about one-third of them from leukemia.
  • Leukemia is the leading cause of death by disease in children and young adults between the ages of 0 and 20
  • The 5-year survival rate for childhood leukemia is more than 90%. for the most common form.
  • Leukemia is diagnosed 10 times more often in adults than in children.
  • Due to advances in treatment, there has been a dramatic improvement in survival for people with acute lymphocytic leukemia, from a 5-year relative survival rate of 42% in 1975 to 1977 to 66% in 1999 to 2005. Survival rates for children with acute lymphocytic leukemia have increased from 58% to 89% over the same time period.
  • Since the early 1970s, incidence rates for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have nearly doubled.
  • The 1-year relative survival rates for Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma are 92% and 80% respectively; the 5-year rates are markedly lower at 85% and 67%; 10-year survival is 81% and 56% respectively.
  • Blood cancer does not discriminate; it can effect any age, any race, any gender, any time.Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the 5th most common cancer in the US.
  • An estimated 10,000 - 15,000 new cases of MDS will be diagnosed this year. Most patients with MDS are older than 60 years of age. The number of new cases seems to be going up, perhaps because our population is getting older and there are more cancer survivors who have had chemotherapy, an important risk factor for MDS.
  • Every day 118 are diagnosed with leukemia and 60 lose the fight

  • Every day 203 Americans are diagnosed with lymphoma and 59 lose the fight.
  • Leukemia strikes males and females of all ages and all races. It does not discriminate.
Sandsie's Comment:
What will happen in the next twenty years of a "cured"  leukemia patient's life? 


It depends on many variables . . . For example
Genetic coding: Question: Are siblings likely to have the same diagnosis in their lifetime? Answer: Depends on genetic coding. Maybe, maybe not.
Type of initial oncology response at original diagnosis -- e.g., those patients that were given radiation are likely to have life challenging health problems.


Complications on initial diagnosis: Avascular Necrosis (caused by chemo' and/ over-use of steroids), Mucormycosis (usually fatal complication of patients with compromised immune systems), Cushing's Syndrome (over-use of steroids.)


ALERT-WATCHFULNESS IS REQUIRED FOR THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS. 


Remember that by the time patients start to show relapse symptoms, they are usually at Stage IV.





CLINICAL PRACTICE

Adult Primary Care after Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Lisa Diller, M.D.
N Engl J Med 2011; 365:1417-1424October 13, 2011

KEY CLINICAL POINTS

TREATING ADULT SURVIVORS OF CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer, and 5-year survival rates in the United States have exceeded 70% for over two decades.
Adult survivors of childhood leukemia have increased risks of secondary cancers, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic illnesses, largely secondary to therapies for childhood cancer.
Clinicians caring for adult survivors of childhood leukemia should
• Request a treatment summary from the treating oncologist, a pediatric oncology program, or a local “survivor clinic.”
• Be aware that adults who received cranial radiotherapy as a component of treatment have increased risks of secondary tumors, stroke, growth hormone deficiency, and neurocognitive deficits.
• Check BMI, blood pressure, and lipids, since survivors of ALL have increased risks of obesity and associated metabolic derangements.
• Consider bone-density testing, since peak bone density is often reduced after childhood exposure to high-dose glucocorticoids and other therapies.
• Screen for left ventricular dysfunction in survivors who received anthracycline therapy, particularly if there was a high cumulative dose or treatment was before the age of 5 years.

Another



Origins of “late” relapse in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia with TEL-AML1 fusion genes

  1. Mel F. Greaves
 . . .
"Given the few patients we have studied, our conclusions are necessarily speculative. Nevertheless, they provide a plausible explanation for puzzling clinical observations in childhood ALL and should encourage further molecular scrutiny of patients who are in sustained complete remission after the cessation of therapy or who relapse.
The “premalignant” interpretation we favor for at least some cases of relapse in ALL may be applicable to some other cancers, such as ovarian and testicular cancer.
 Some of these patients have good prognosis characteristics but unexpectedly relapse many years after initial diagnosis. They are then very responsive clinically, and have good eventual prognosis."
Sandsie's Comment:
Any initial diagnosis of a malignancy is a grim diagnosis. The news is both good and bad in many instances.
The Key to "longevity" as used by Austin (yes! a big word for a young man) is again:

ALERT-WATCHFULNESS IS REQUIRED FOR THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS. 
This may include continued scans, bone density scans and bone marrow analysis.  Siblings (brothers and sisters) should also be included.







Thursday, April 19, 2012



Cancer:

          The power of Belief and a Talisman
 The Power of hard Science -- 
         Oxygen's role in defeating cancer


“I wore [the locket Bob lent me] in the hospital. It meant a lot to me is all I can say, and I wasn’t willing to give it back until I felt myself again. That was what Bob told me to do. I had it for, probably, a month.”


This patient had been diagnosed with a most malignant  squamous cell carcinoma that had invaded her pelvic cul-de-sac. Dramatic debulking surgery was required as a matter of urgency, since a lot of organs were now being invaded and compromised.

The patient was told by one oncologist that the metastatic process was so advanced that she was considered inoperable. 

 "I did five ‘dives’ in the oxygen chamber before and after each surgery. I was out of the hospital from that first surgery in three days. So I was all excited, realizing what it does for surgery. I don’t know what it does for cancer but I know what it does for surgery. You would think these doctors would see that. 'You should refer all of your patients for hyperbarics'
My oncologist looked at me like I was from outer space. 'You should save your money. Go get a massage. It does about the same for you.'
She didn’t even want to know. That’s what’s so disheartening to me. I don’t even tell her anymore. She sees people like me every day. That’s her job. You’d think she would want to know."

Sandsie's Comments:
First the Talisman. Twenty years ago my Wise-Old-Aussie-Bush-Mum said to me "Time is your Golden Coin - do not squander it nor let others pilfer it." She then asked me to define those to words.
"Sure, Mum -- 'squander is to waste time."
"No," says Mum "if you want to waste a bit of your time, it is your choice. Squander is what drug-addicts do -- they hose their years away. Like winning a million dollars one week and being broke by the weekend. Now about 'pilfer"
"Sure, Mum. Don't  let people steal your time."
"Ha, Bobby, you almost have it. But pilfering is sly theft."

Since Mum made that observation to me I always I carry the golden coin as a daily reminder. I was happy to loan it to the patient. She only returned it and said "Thanks. I now know I am going to live."
Her "life belief" was about five years ago -- even though after her surgery she was told that she had only a 15% chance of living for one year. She remains healthy and continues with spasmodic hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Here is the latest Medical Science from Duke University. I am puzzled however, having been guest at the F.G.Hall Environmental Lab' at Duke -- America's most exotic system of hyperbaric chambers -- as to why they do  not treat their cancer patients in their chambers nor collaborate between medical departments. 
A pity.

The Latest Science explains why this patient remains cancer free:
Scan Detects Oxygen Levels in Tumors
1. April 23 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that scientists are close to developing a simple way to measure oxygen levels in tumors, giving doctors a heads-up about what kind of treatment is best for individual patients.

The findings fit into an emerging trend of individualized treatment for patients with cancer instead of treating people the same way, said Dr. Mark Dewhirst, a professor of radiation oncology at Duke University Medical Center.
"If successful, [the trend] will revolutionize the way that we treat cancer," said Dewhirst, who co-wrote a commentary accompanying the new study, published April 22 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Scientists began realizing the important role of oxygen in tumors about 50 years ago, said study co-author James Mitchell, branch chief of radiation biology at the U.S. National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research. The scientists discovered that tumors with higher concentrations of oxygen were more susceptible to radiation, he said.
"Radiation damages cells by causing damage to DNA, and one particular type of damage renders the DNA molecule non-reparable," Mitchell said. But less oxygen in the tumor allows tumor cells to survive more easily by making the DNA destruction process more difficult, he said.

According to Dewhirst, the same is true for chemotherapy drugs, which also don't work as well when tumors have less oxygen.

Lower levels of oxygen create other problems, Dewhirst. "One would think at first that lack of oxygen would make tumors unhealthy and easy to kill," he said. "But actually, the opposite happens -- tumor cells that lack oxygen become more aggressive and more difficult to kill."

Tumors with lower oxygen levels even spread more easily through the body, he said.

Doctors can check oxygen levels in patients by inserting a needle. But doctors can't insert needles into some patients, and. in others, it's difficult to insert the needle deep enough, Mitchell said. In the new study, the researchers tested a scanning technique called pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance imaging and used it in tandem with magnetic resonance imaging. The study authors said they were able to successfully measure oxygen levels in tumors in mice by using the non-invasive technology.

"The imaging that is described in this study provides all of the information necessary to evaluate oxygen levels in tumors as well as to examine underlying causes for the lack of oxygen," Dewhirst said. "The fact that all of the imaging is completely non-invasive provides the ability to perform this measurement more than once, (meaning) this could be used to monitor the effectiveness of cancer therapy."


Conversations with Medical Specialists . . .

               Physician Peer Pressure

                             Doctor's  in a bind (Part 2) 

Following my last post --


                                   A Tale of Two Bears . . .




 This is Sandsie's special Friend -- "Thread Bare." 

I was three years old when we became friends. Over the next 67 years, he came with me for a three months stay in an infectious disease hospital in Australia when I had diphtheria; he was there for me when I came home from a Sydney hospital at the age of 36 (five  kids whatsmore) with a  one year prognosis to live from carcinoma; again when I was 46 years old and diagnosed with mesothelioma (lung cancer) and two years to live; and then again, 14 years ago when I had major surgery for cancer and was told by my surgeon that the most I could live was "three, maybe five years at the most."

Do the math. Yup, I am 70 years old. 

Sometimes I lift my little Thread Bare down from his perch and feel comforted by the touch of a good friend. My adult children all want him for themselves at sometime in the future. I have cut a deal with them and each have him for one year and pass him on for another year of friendship.

In the picture of Thread Bare looking at a little leukemia patient through the window is to reassure her that being in the chamber would not cause pain. This young lady had her own talisman friend "Bee" as in B-for-Bear inside with her.

Most cancer kids have their version of these bears or other little friends  -- talismans, really.  Usually, the oncology response causes pain beyond what few who have not suffered it cannot  imagine. Little friends like Bee can ease the fear, pain and loneliness of being a child and taking the advice of a hospital person who says "now be brave."

So, when children came to my hyperbaric centers they assumed that there would be more pain, more fear. I would bring Thread Bare and say "he will look through the window the entire time, and this will be the best treatment that you have ever had." Always cheered the little sufferers up.

Bee now sits alone in the bedroom of this lovely little girl -- her folks have made the room a shrine since she "gained angel wings and flew". This child was a gifted artist. Wonderful paintings, some complete, some almost. The parents later told me that they often come into her room and pat Bee on the head to say thanks for the comfort that she gave to their daughter. 
                       

I cannot show this lovely little girls face. Too much pain to go around. You need to scroll back a few postings to see that the oncologist "forbade" the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the child.  

Would she have survived (look all the other leukemia kids that we have treated) if he had said "well OK, it is worth a try"? I cannot say, I am not a physician. I do know that, for the few times she came for HBOT treatments at SD Center, she did so well. 

I also know that the oncology staff at Rady San Diego Children's Hospital (who send leukemia kids in crisis) would have written the Rx. to add HBOT to the Los Angeles oncologist's regular response.

The moral for parents: Enrol your oncologist with the latest science.  

If you want peer review scientific papers, then send an email to info@hboinfo.com, and the good folks at the Healing Chambers International Centers will respond with an email of the latest science for you to present to your oncologists.

Enough glum stories to tear at heartstrings . . . next two posts are on the reality of adding HBOT as an adjunct to conventional oncology and the success that it brings.

Then on to another subject - -  Lyme disease


Monday, April 16, 2012

Conversations with Medical Specialists . . .

               Physician Peer Pressure

                             Doctor's  in a bind . . . 

Following my last post . . .






Herewith are the first two conversation -- second-hand, but true.

The first in a Los Angeles hospital -- the pediatric oncologist had just told the mother that her 8 year old daughter had advanced acute lymphoblastic leukemia ("A.L.L.").  Placing three one-sided sheets, print side down on his desk the following exchange took place.

Oncologist:    Your daughter has to start chemo' immediately -- choose one of these . . . 
Mother:           I do not know why I have to chose or which is which . . .


Oncologist:     All chemo' has toxic side effects. It is always a gamble. I do not want to make the choice.
Mother:           OK, I will make the choice after I have done some due diligence.

Picking up the three sheets, she folded them, put them in her bag and walked out

Sandsie's comment: 
A good and caring physician -- but his hands tied by the rules and regulations of  Californian Civil Codes and the medical protocols as approved by that hospital. The upshot was the family took the child to Texas to another Oncology Center.  Eight years later, the lass shows no sign of  A.L.L. but the continuous use of steroids has resulted in Cushing's Disease -- the classic buffalo hump on her back and an extreme growth of hair (hirsute) -- not much fun in teenage years. But better than the extreme alternative

Next in a California hospital (not identified because of the major changes in attitude) . . . the father has just been told that his son has A.L.L. and that chemo' and radiation were needed urgently.

Father:           In that case, I will take him to Texas. I hear  that they do well there with this form of leukemia.
Oncologist:    I forbid you removing this child from this hospital. Trust me, before you could get across the parking lot to your car, I would have a Judge's order making your son a ward of the State of California, and before you could unlock your car, the Sheriff would block you and Child Protective Services would bring your son back inside. In fact, your son would no longer be yours until he was 18 years of age.

Sandsie's comment. 
A good and caring physician -- now a friend of mine. "Sandsie, I defied the largest egos in this hospital to send him to you for hyperbarics. My heart was in my mouth the whole time. Now  I have evidence that HBOT assists these children, as a Professor of Oncology, I have the right to Rx. any child and I will use it."

Now, the  first-hand conversations with me:

On another occasion my new oncologist friend told me 

   "I lost 14 of my little patients last year.  Each time I failed them and their parents, I think that I grieved as much as if it was one of my own two children with the added component of guilt." And,

   "Oncologist's hands are so tied. Medical Boards, Hospital Internal Review Boards, California Codes. My greatest wish would be to be able to afford my own practice, my own equipment and I certainly would have my own hyperbaric oxygen chambers. But it is all so expensive . . ."



All of you that are reading this have the ability to make a change for these children. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is now in the realm of "we know that it will not harm, it just might help, so let us try it."

Now, the really good news for parents, patients and physicians . . . 




Medicine and its rivals


                                      The believers


Alternative therapies are increasingly mainstream. 




The best value weekly magazine that I know, both in cost and quality. Take the time to read this . . .  changes are coming.









Wednesday, April 11, 2012


Lymphoma and leukemia respond positively to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Some Cancers can sneak up – they do not hurt until a potentially lethal Stage 4 status.


Liz at the San Diego Clinic 
I had actually been friends with this young father for quite some years. He invited me for lunch. I was shocked to see him – normally the healthiest looking and most handsome fellow one could meet. 

At lunch as I looked across the table at him, his face was all puffy and his throat lumps and bumps. “What's the matter with you” I asked?   for the purposes of the blog and patient confidentiality we will give him a name “Bill”. 

Bill's broad shoulders slumped and he told me “I have just been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I have a large mass just over my heart and this is causing constriction of blood vessels going to my head. I feel terrible and I am frightened too”

He went on to explain that his father was an oncologist and  telling him that he had good chance of survival if he started radiation and chemotherapy immediately. 

“He told me that he could get me plenty of painkilling drugs that would get me through the chemotherapy. I just do not know what to do.” 

Bill’s wife arrived and said “I think that we should do something else before we go the conventional route. Let us try diet, hyperbaric oxygen therapy. I am a believer in ‘New German  Medicine'.”

As I pointed out to them both that a physician's prescription is required.  “My dad will write it” answered Bill.

I had great confidence that this would work. The reason was because of what I called the New Year's Miracle.  It happened this way:

I was walking my little dog Sophie on the beach in Hawaii.  The Tradewinds had turned up a huge ocean, with 45 feet facers washing against the windward sides of the islands.  The beach that Sophie and I were on was protected.

Nonetheless, out of the blue ocean came huge wave and we instantly went from ankle-deep to chest deep.  Sophie disappeared in the white foam up into the jungle. Then as the huge wave receded, the tiny head popped up out of the water and she was being rushed out to sea. As she came beneath my legs at a great rate, I scooped her out of the water.  An Australian Rules football player could not have been more precise. A lot of the watching people are applauded and yelled. Then I heard a voice call “Sandsie, Sandsie” and here was Liz. 

Is there any such thing as coincidence?

Liz, Sandsie and Sophie -- Hawaii, New Year's Day 2011

I had not seen Liz for three years – she was a Hodgkin's Lymphoma patient that had come from Detroit to our  San Diego hyperbaric center. Her physician had prescribed hyperbaric oxygen therapy prior to regular oncology treatments. But she could not find the clinic that would treat her, even with her prescription in hand.  

At the Clinic she said "Sandsie, the scans show I have a huge mass in my abdomen, but it does not hurt at all. I feel fine -- and as you know, I dance for a living." All told Liz  had about thirty treatments before she had to return back to her home state. 

After her she left sort of lost back of her for some years. Now he she was standing on a beach in Hawaii on her honeymoon. 
Ten minutes this way or that way -- one rogue wave -- we would have missed each other!

How was she?

“When I went home the oncologists could not believe just how little I needed by way of chemotherapy. I did not need radiation at all -- something that they were insisting on before my hyperbarics.  I am now totally healthy and back  dancing for a living.”   

Liz experience put paid to the notion that hyperbaric oxygen therapy would actually make cancers thrive and grow . . .

Back to Bill.  When he turned up at the Clinic, we had no doubts in our mind that hyperbarics would only help him and not hurt him. “My father is so doubtful. He believes that the mass in my chest is so involved around my heart, I need immediate radiation to shrink it to survive. But I told him that if I was not seeing improvements with hyperbaric oxygen then I would do it his way. So he wrote the prescription.”

By his tenth hyperbaric treatment, the swollen face and neck had normalized. By the fifteenth treatment, his scans show a twenty percent reduction in the size  of the lymphoid mass.


 Read the report -- the "CONCLUSION" (above)Aaa


. . . all of this with zero regular oncology interventions – just hyperbaric oxygen, “German Medicine” and exercise. Six months later, Bill is back to being his old self. None of the pain, the hair loss, the alteration of moods with massive steroid doses.

And not one day lost from his work.

More on the science in my next BLOG