About Lung Cancer

Lung cancer occurred in approximately 1.8 million patients in 2012 and caused an estimated 1.6 million deaths. In the United States, lung cancer occurs in approximately 230,000 patients and causes over 140,000 deaths annually.

Both the absolute and relative frequency of lung cancer have risen dramatically. Around 1953, lung cancer became the most common cause of cancer deaths in men, and in 1985, it became the leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Lung cancer deaths have begun to decline in both men and women, reflecting a decrease in smoking rates.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, among both men and women. Lung cancer claims more lives each year than do colon, prostate, ovarian and breast cancers combined.

Types of Lung Cancer  

The term lung cancer, or bronchogenic carcinoma, refers to malignancies that originate in the airways or pulmonary parenchyma. Approximately 95 percent of all lung cancers are classified as either small cell lung cancer (SCLC) or non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This distinction is essential for staging, treatment, and prognosis. Other cell types comprise approximately 5 percent of malignancies arising in the lung.

The major types of cancer include:

  • Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) comprises approximately 10-15% of all known lung cancer cases.
  • Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) comprises approximately 85-90% of all known lung cancers cases.
  • Adenocarcinoma arises from cells in the lung that secrete substances such as mucus (40% of lung cancers).
  • Squamous cell (epidermoid) carcinoma arises from the flat squamous cells that line the inside of the airways of the lung (25-30% of lung cancers).
  • Large cell (undifferentiated) carcinoma typically arises from the epithelial cells that line the outer regions of the lung (10-15% of lung cancers).

Conventional Treatment

The type of treatment patients receive for lung cancer depends on several factors, including:

  • The type of lung cancer the patient has (non-small-cell or small-cell mutations on the cancer)
  • The size and position of the cancer
  • How advanced the cancer is (the stage)
  • The patient’s overall health

Common Symptoms

  • Chest discomfort or pain, persistent cough, trouble breathing, wheezing, bloody sputum 
  • Loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss
  • Fatigue
  • Hoarseness, trouble swallowing
  • Swelling in the face and/or veins in the neck

Diagnosis

The clinical evaluation should be symptom-directed, which in turn allows appropriate imaging and invasive testing to confirm nodal or metastatic disease. Every patient with suspected NSCLC should undergo a computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest and upper abdomen (usually contrast-enhanced) to evaluate the extent of the primary tumor and potential spread to the mediastinum, liver, and adrenal glands. 

A number of tests and diagnostic tools may be used to identify lung cancer and determine how advanced it is, including:

  • Imaging: X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), chest computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) scans 
  • Staging: The extent of the cancer is determined by tumor size, whether cancer cells have spread to nearby lymph nodes, and whether additional metastatic events have occurred.

The cancer team will make recommendations, but the final decision will be yours.

The most common treatment options include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Depending on the type of cancer and the stage, the oncologist may recommend a combination of these treatments.

Integrative medicine for Lung Cancer

Immunotherapy

The goal of cancer immunotherapy is to improve the body’s natural ability to find and destroy cancer cells. Successful immunotherapeutic approaches stimulate the natural defenses of the immune system and provide new ways to attack cancer. This is possible with comprehensive interventions that include cell therapy / immuno-pharmacological therapy in combination with nutritional, endocrine measures and supplements.

Dendritic enhancer or T-cell modulators

T-cell Modulators are peptide chains composed of tens of amino acids that appear to store all the experience of the immune system. The great intellectual leap to understand is that T-cell Modulators do not transfer antibodies nor create them directly, but its function is to educate, and teach the immune cells to recognize specific antigens that could happen to them unnoticed i.e. Lung malignant cells.

T-cell Modulators do not cure anything but work to make a “smarter” immune system so that it is the body itself eliminating disease. They are therefore vital in developing the strategies of the immune system against cancer.
T-cell Modulators contains several immunoactive components that have been shown to act synergistically in raising Dendritic and NK function and also effective as adjuvant therapy in Lung cancer treatments, elevating dendritic and NK function as much as 250%.

Hyperthermia

Hyperthermia involves the use of heat to directly treat a tumor or increase the vulnerability of cancer cells to other forms of treatment, such as immunotherapy, B17, vitamin C, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Liposomal Mistletoe

Mistletoe helps fight tumor-induced immune suppression. Natural killer cells (NK) are a type of white blood cell that looks for and destroys Lung cancer cells. Research has shown that NK cells can spontaneously recognize and kill a variety of Lung cancer cells.

Mistletoe has been called a “biological response modifier” due to its ability to improve various aspects of immune function. Studies show that it activates natural killer cells, T cells, macrophages and monocytes.
A special proprietary form of liposomal mistletoe created with nanotechnology has been created for use in our Lung cancer treatment approach.

Gluthatione

Glutathione is the most important antioxidant produced by your body and a master detoxifier of every cell in your body. It prevents cellular damage caused by free radicals and peroxides.

Glutathione metabolism is able to play both protective and pathogenic roles. It is crucial in the removal and detoxification of carcinogens, and alterations in this pathway can have a profound effect on cell survival. However, by conferring resistance to a number of chemotherapeutic drugs, elevated levels of glutathione in tumor cells are able to protect such cells.

Personalized nutrition

A typical diet, characterized by dependence on animal products, refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats such as processed vegetable oils, can promote an inflammatory environment in the body. A pro-inflammatory diet has been associated with an increased risk of Lung cancer and an increased risk of death from Lung cancer.

We custom-make a diet targeted to enhance the immune system’s ability to heal and provide our patients with the right nutrition for their current and long-term needs.

Vitamins and supplements

Lung cancer patients who take supplemental vitamins, including vitamin C, are 22% less likely to have a recurrence of Lung cancer after treatment than those who do not take supplements. Women who take vitamin C after diagnosis are 15% less likely to die of the disease than those who do not take the supplement.

Selenium

In one study, selenium levels were measured in the blood of 546 patients with a recent diagnosis of Lung cancer. Patients with the lowest levels of selenium were more than twice as likely to die during the five-year follow-up than patients with the highest levels. A second study found that Lung cancer patients with high dietary selenium intake were significantly less likely to die from the disease.
We use intravenous selenium as part of our Lung cancer treatment approach.

Vitamin D

An epidemiological study found that patients with lung cancer who underwent surgery during the summer and had higher vitamin D intake (greater than 596 IU daily) had a significantly longer period of recurrence-free survival and overall survival than those who underwent surgery during the winter and had low vitamin D intake (less than 239 IU daily and no vitamin D supplements).

Melatonin

A study of lung cancer patients found significantly higher 5-year survival rates and tumor regression rates in those who received melatonin each evening while undergoing chemotherapy compared with those who received chemotherapy alone.

Vitamin E

A large study on male smokers found that those whose blood levels of alpha-tocopherol were in the top 20% had a 19% reduction in the risk of developing lung cancer compared with those whose levels were in the bottom 20%.

Zinc

A study of lung cancer patients compared with an equal number of healthy individuals found that those with the highest dietary intake of zinc (greater than about 12 mg daily) had a 43% lower risk of lung cancer.

Silymarin

Traditionally used in the treatment of certain liver diseases, silymarin is a mixture of flavonoids from the medicinal plant milk thistle. Several studies show that silymarin’s primary active ingredient, silibinin, possesses potent antioxidant properties that may prevent the formation of reactive oxygen species, subsequent DNA damage, and the growth of tumor cells (Kaur 2010; Dagne 2011; Li 2011). Studies have found that silibinin inhibits the growth of lung cancer cells.

It also appears to enhance apoptosis, or programmed cell death, of SCLC cells and reverse resistance to the chemotherapy drugs etoposide and doxorubicin (Adriamycin).

Diseases Treated at Integrative Immunotherapy Institute

Adenocarcinoma
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