Integrative oncology enhances conventional treatment strategies. And its lessons could help more of us avoid cancer entirely.
DeAnne Salmon, a product designer from Jacksonville, Ore., comes from a family plagued by cancer. Her mother died from colon cancer at age 54. Salmon’s sister died from breast cancer at age 52. It’s no surprise that Salmon became something of a health fanatic, turning to exercise, organic foods and a raft of supplements in order to thwart the disease. “It never occurred to me that after doing everything right, I could get cancer, too,” she says.
But in 2011, right on schedule at age 52, Salmon was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her stage 2A invasive ductal carcinoma wasn’t necessarily a death sentence, but doctors were concerned after finding a second tumor behind the first. Salmon followed her doctor’s advice, opting for a mastectomy followed by a short-course chemotherapy regimen to kill malignant cells. The side effects were not for the faint of heart: high levels of pain, hair and fingernail loss, constipation, diarrhea, unrelenting fatigue, and memory loss.
“I had to do something to help myself through the chemo,” says Salmon.
Her acupuncturist recommended the Mederi Centre for Natural Healing in nearby Ashland, where master herbalist Donald Yance Jr., MH, CN, RH (AHG), has spent decades collaborating with conventional oncologists, integrating botanicals not just to offset the side effects of traditional cancer treatment but also to boost overall immunity.
In the face of a cancer diagnosis, most people understandably head straight to surgeons who cut out tumors and to oncologists who use potent chemotherapies and radiation to root out disease. For many, the treatment ends there. But many experts are now saying that it’s time to take a more holistic, long-term approach to the disease, and to pay closer attention to the overall health of patients suffering from cancer. That is why many practitioners, including medical doctors, have embraced the rapidly expanding field of integrative oncology, which fuses the best of conventional and alternative treatments.
Pursued with care, integrative-oncology strategies such as nutrition, exercise, stress management and targeted supplements can reduce inflammation and boost immunity, which can reduce the risk of relapse.
Even better news? Many of the same protocols integrative oncologists use to protect survivors from a cancer recurrence can help lower cancer risk in the rest of us, too. That’s important because, as integrative oncologist Dwight McKee, MD, puts it, “we are all potential cancer patients.”
Conventional oncology, McKee says, has primarily been focused on finding “better and better ways to kill a tumor — usually with great, and sometimes lethal, toxicity to the host as well.”
Integrative oncology, on the other hand, focuses on the interplay between the tumor and its immediate biochemical environment within the body, often referred to as “the terrain.”
“For almost any chronic disease, inflammation is at the root,” says University of Texas cancer researcher and biochemist Bharat Aggarwal, PhD. “Most cancer starts by the age of 20.” As the body ages, he explains, toxic exposures mount and genetic damage accrues. Depending on inflammation and the overall condition of a person’s terrain, that deterioration may eventually result in a life-threatening cancer, perhaps many years or decades later.
Thankfully, says McKee, a thought leader in the field, “the microenvironment within which tumor cells live is finally becoming a focus for laboratory researchers. We are at the dawn of a new era in helping patients survive.”
As positive reports about integrative-oncology approaches roll in, renowned teaching hospitals are increasingly launching integrative programs of their own. Over the past 15 years, most major cities have established significant integrative programs at mainstream treatment centers, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to the University of California’s Simms/Mann Center for Integrative Oncology in Los Angeles.
Along with greater acceptance comes greater accessibility for patients. Many integrative tools, such as acupuncture, nutritional counseling and stress management, have qualified for insurance coverage in recent years because a substantive body of research has validated the methods and results.
DeAnne Salmon, a product designer from Jacksonville, Ore., comes from a family plagued by cancer. Her mother died from colon cancer at age 54. Salmon’s sister died from breast cancer at age 52. It’s no surprise that Salmon became something of a health fanatic, turning to exercise, organic foods and a raft of supplements in order to thwart the disease. “It never occurred to me that after doing everything right, I could get cancer, too,” she says.
But in 2011, right on schedule at age 52, Salmon was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her stage 2A invasive ductal carcinoma wasn’t necessarily a death sentence, but doctors were concerned after finding a second tumor behind the first. Salmon followed her doctor’s advice, opting for a mastectomy followed by a short-course chemotherapy regimen to kill malignant cells. The side effects were not for the faint of heart: high levels of pain, hair and fingernail loss, constipation, diarrhea, unrelenting fatigue, and memory loss.
“I had to do something to help myself through the chemo,” says Salmon.
Her acupuncturist recommended the Mederi Centre for Natural Healing in nearby Ashland, where master herbalist Donald Yance Jr., MH, CN, RH (AHG), has spent decades collaborating with conventional oncologists, integrating botanicals not just to offset the side effects of traditional cancer treatment but also to boost overall immunity.
In the face of a cancer diagnosis, most people understandably head straight to surgeons who cut out tumors and to oncologists who use potent chemotherapies and radiation to root out disease. For many, the treatment ends there. But many experts are now saying that it’s time to take a more holistic, long-term approach to the disease, and to pay closer attention to the overall health of patients suffering from cancer. That is why many practitioners, including medical doctors, have embraced the rapidly expanding field of integrative oncology, which fuses the best of conventional and alternative treatments.
Pursued with care, integrative-oncology strategies such as nutrition, exercise, stress management and targeted supplements can reduce inflammation and boost immunity, which can reduce the risk of relapse.
Even better news? Many of the same protocols integrative oncologists use to protect survivors from a cancer recurrence can help lower cancer risk in the rest of us, too. That’s important because, as integrative oncologist Dwight McKee, MD, puts it, “we are all potential cancer patients.”
Conventional oncology, McKee says, has primarily been focused on finding “better and better ways to kill a tumor — usually with great, and sometimes lethal, toxicity to the host as well.”
Integrative oncology, on the other hand, focuses on the interplay between the tumor and its immediate biochemical environment within the body, often referred to as “the terrain.”
“For almost any chronic disease, inflammation is at the root,” says University of Texas cancer researcher and biochemist Bharat Aggarwal, PhD. “Most cancer starts by the age of 20.” As the body ages, he explains, toxic exposures mount and genetic damage accrues. Depending on inflammation and the overall condition of a person’s terrain, that deterioration may eventually result in a life-threatening cancer, perhaps many years or decades later.
Thankfully, says McKee, a thought leader in the field, “the microenvironment within which tumor cells live is finally becoming a focus for laboratory researchers. We are at the dawn of a new era in helping patients survive.”
As positive reports about integrative-oncology approaches roll in, renowned teaching hospitals are increasingly launching integrative programs of their own. Over the past 15 years, most major cities have established significant integrative programs at mainstream treatment centers, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to the University of California’s Simms/Mann Center for Integrative Oncology in Los Angeles.
Along with greater acceptance comes greater accessibility for patients. Many integrative tools, such as acupuncture, nutritional counseling and stress management, have qualified for insurance coverage in recent years because a substantive body of research has validated the methods and results.
Read Full Article Here: Integrative Oncology: A Healthier Way to Fight Cancer
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