About Pancreatic Cancer

Multiple factors, including a complex and poorly understood pathophysiology and difficulty in early detection and diagnosis make successful treatment of pancreatic cancer extremely challenging.

Pancreatic cancer is typically not detected until it has already reached a locally advanced or metastatic stage due to the relative lack of symptoms in early disease. Current standard of care comprises surgery if the tumor is contained within the pancreas, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and possibly radiation.

However, if the cancer has spread, conventional treatment is limited, and long-term survival rates remain very low. The rapidly accelerating use of specialized immunotherapies represent the next generation of novel medical treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Symptoms

  • Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes) due to blockage of the bile duct or liver malfunction.
  • A gnawing pain from the stomach to the back.
  • Unexplained weight loss.
  • Fatigue, weakness, dark urine, light stools, and anorexia.

Diagnosis

Poor survival in pancreatic cancer is due not to early spread but to late diagnosis. Early diagnosis of this cancer is rare because symptoms develop gradually and cancer is often present for many months or even years before diagnosis.

Physicians use a range of imaging techniques to confirm the diagnosis. Techniques used to diagnose pancreatic cancer include ultrasound, computerized tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and, sometimes, positron emission tomography (PET) scan.

Conventional Treatments

Treatment options for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer depend heavily on a patient’s overall health and preferences. First-line options include:

  • Surgery: Laparoscopy. During this surgery, the surgeon can find out if the cancer has spread to other parts of the abdomen. If it has, surgery to remove the primary tumor is generally not recommended.
  • Surgery to remove the tumor: Different types of surgery are used depending on where the tumor is located in the pancreas. If the cancer is located only in the head of the pancreas, the surgeon may do a Whipple procedure. If the cancer is located in the tail of the pancreas, the common operation is a distal pancreatectomy. If the cancer has spread throughout the pancreas or is located in many areas in the pancreas, a total pancreatectomy may be needed. Side effects of surgery include weakness, tiredness, and pain for the first few days after the procedure. Other side effects caused by the removal of the pancreas include difficulty digesting food and diabetes from the loss of insulin produced by the pancreas.
  • Radiation therapy: External-beam radiation therapy is the type of radiation therapy used most often for pancreatic cancer. A radiation therapy regimen, or schedule, usually consists of a specific number of treatments given over a set period of time. There are different ways that radiation therapy can be given: Traditional radiation therapy is made up of daily treatments of lower doses of radiation per fraction or day. It is given over 5 to 6 weeks in total. Shorter treatments of higher doses of radiation therapy given over as few as five days is called stereotactic body radiation (SBRT) or Cyberknife. Proton beam therapy is a type of external-beam radiation therapy that uses protons rather than x-rays.
  • Chemotherapy: Often, chemotherapy will be given at the same time as radiation therapy because it can enhance the effects of the radiation therapy, which is called radiosensitization. Combining chemotherapy and radiation therapy may occasionally help shrink the tumor enough so it can be removed by surgery.

Integrative medicine in Pancreatic 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. Pancreatic 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 Pancreatic 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 Pancreatic cancer cells. Research has shown that NK cells can spontaneously recognize and kill a variety of Pancreatic 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 Pancreatic 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 Pancreatic cancer and an increased risk of death from Pancreatic 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.

Vitamin D

Patients with higher vitamin D levels were significantly less likely to die from the disease (Mondul 2016). In another study, short-term supplementation with high-dose vitamin D for three to eight weeks lowered PSA levels (Wagner 2013). Pancreatic cancer patients have a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency indicating the need for appropriate supplementation (Fisher 2009). Vitamin D3 has multiple protective effects against pancreatic cancer including anti-angiogenic, anti-metastatic, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects (Hung Pham 2011; Bulathsinghala 2010).

Zinc

Healthy pancreas cells accumulate zinc to accomplish their normal cellular functions. In contrast, prostate cancer cells have depleted zinc stores, which makes them less susceptible to cell death.

Melatonin

Melatonin, a hormone best known for its role in regulating sleep, is also emerging as a promising anti-cancer agent. Evidence to date has shown that melatonin can interfere with cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis. In a clinical study in which melatonin plus low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) was used to treat pancreatic cancer patients with a life expectancy of less than 6 months, a complete response was achieved in one pancreatic cancer patient, and a partial response in three others.

Immunotherapy with melatonin and IL-2 was a well-tolerated and effective therapy for almost all advanced cancer patients with solid tumors, including those who did not respond to IL-2 alone or to chemotherapy (Lissoni 1995).

Diseases Treated at Integrative Immunotherapy Institute

Adenocarcinoma
Adrenal Cancer
Anal Cancer
Appendix Cancer
Bile Duct Cancer
Bladder Cancer
Bone Cancer
Brain Cancer
Breast Cancer
Carcinoid Tumors
Cervical Cancer
Colorectal Cancer
Esophageal Cancer
Eye Cancer
Gallbladder Cancer
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST)
Head and Neck Cancer
Hodgkin Lymphoma
Intestinal Cancer

Kidney Cancer
Leukemia
Liver Cancer
Lung Cancer
Lymphoma
Melanoma
Mesothelioma
Metastatic Squamous Neck Cancer
Multiple Myeloma
Neuroblastoma
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL)
Oral Cancer
Ovarian Cancer
Pancreatic Cancer
Penile Cancer
Primary Central Nervous System (CNS) Lymphoma
Prostate Cancer
Sinus Cancer
Skin Cancer

Small Intestine Cancer
Soft Tissue Sarcoma
Spinal Cancer
Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Stomach Cancer
Testicular Cancer
Throat Cancer
Thymoma / Thymic Carcinoma
Thyroid Cancer
Urethral Cancer
Uterine Cancer
Vaginal Cancer
Vulvar Cancer

Bacterial & Viral Infections
Hepatitis C
Lyme Disease

Addison’s Disease
Arthritis
Asthma
Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease (AIED)
Celiac Disease
Colitis

Crohn’s Disease Treatment in Mexico – Top Clinic
Cushing Syndrome
Eczema
Fibromyalgia
Graves’ Disease
Guillain-Barre Syndrome

Hemolytic Anemia
Lupus
Psoriasis
Vitiligo

Alzheimer’s Disease
Diabetes
Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)
Parkinson’s Disease