The cutting edge of alternative medicine and cancer treatment: the video every alternative practitioner should see

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients ,  August-Sept, 2006   by Jonathan Collin

Dedicated to German physician Dr. Albert Scheller, Cancer Conquest is a remarkable video that is obligatory viewing and studying for physicians, cancer workers, and patients. Beyond offering the remarkable story of a revolutionary diagnostic test for determining the correct cancer treatment and proper administration of chemotherapy, this video interviews 15 physicians and cancer workers who are truly at the cutting edge of alternative cancer treatment. Through these interviews, Burton Goldberg presents an in-depth portrait of individuals who are combining the best of conventional and alternative complementary therapies. Many US physicians and patients will find the wealth of resources available in Germany for implementing alternative diagnostics and therapies astounding. Fortunately, a number of US clinics are beginning to utilize many of the protocols underway in Germany, providing a more available pathway for patients who are unable to journey to Europe. Still, there appears to be an advantage in having diagnostics and treatments initiated by the master practitioners directly, and it would be of definite advantage for many patients to consider the trip to Munich and Frankfurt. Physicians would be advised to study these masters as well. The video provides contact information for all the featured clinics and doctors.

Dr. Scheller, who passed away in 2005, developed a collaborative approach for diagnosing and treating cancer patients. While some clinics have offered unique cancer treatment protocols–for example, instituting strict dietary regimens–Scheller sought to combine conventional cancer treatment approaches in modified fashion to maximize cancer control. Dr. Scheller focused on understanding cancer cell metabolic pathways. This understanding provided clues to either killing cancer cells outright or shutting down their reproductive mechanisms. Together with Professor Michael Giesing, MD, of Munster, Germany, Dr. Scheller tested patient blood samples for evidence of micrometastasis, the microscopic spread of the primary cancer through the blood stream.

In his interview here, Professor Giesing states that, despite removal of the tumor by radical surgery and administration of chemotherapy and radiation, tumor cells are released in the blood stream, permitting micrometastasis development. The exposure of these cells to chemotherapy and radiation allows for the creation of new cancer cells distinctly different from the primary tumor cells and resistant to previously administered chemotherapies. The micrometastatic cells have distinct metabolic and gene functioning, which will advance into fully growing metastatic tumors, unless the tumor metabolic function can be shut down. Giesing, in collaboration with other German physicians and molecular chemists, has studied the genetic metabolic pathways of these micrometastatic tumor cells. The relative ease of this metabolic and genetic testing–which Giesing calls pharmacogenomic testing–provides a means for testing the cancer cells’ sensitivity to different chemotherapy agents. This testing is a phenomenal advance for oncology; while most chemotherapy protocols dictate in cookbook fashion specific chemotherapy agents for specific tumors, this testing would determine the precise chemotherapies appropriate for the metastatic tumor.

Giesing comments on a patient who had metastatic colorectal carcinoma and had been failing under standard chemotherapy regimens. After pharmacogenomic testing, it was determined that the patient’s tumor was highly sensitive to Herceptin, an agent primarily used in treating breast cancer. Ed Van Overloop, a member of the CARE cancer support group, was treated by Dr. Scheller for his recurrent prostate cancer. After the genomic testing, now done by the Bio-Focus Institute for Molecular Oncology in Recklinghausen, Germany (www.biofocus.de), it was determined that a chemotherapy agent primarily prescribed for ovarian cancer was the best treatment for his prostate cancer. Van Overloop presented to Scheller with a PSA score approaching 1000; after three weeks of treatment, his PSA score dropped to 50, and a month later his score dropped to below 15. Note that Van Overloop’s treatment at Dr. Scheller’s clinic was not limited to chemotherapy. He received many other therapies, including hyperthermia treatment and specific immune therapies. Yet, his treatment clearly was enhanced when the proper chemotherapy agent was administered.