NHS Funding For Mistletoe Therapy May be Scrapped

July 15, 2010 by Ann-Marie Waters · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Drugs and Treatment 

Mistletoe (Viscum Album) is the most predominantly used complementary therapy in cancer care in Europe and is used in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy. Mistletoe therapy was developed in 1917 and is seen to be a complimentary medicine in cancer care.

There are also several consultant-led clinics and hospitals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands that specialise in this therapy.

Mistletoe therapy improves and strengthens the natural defenses of the body through a supportive effect on the immune system, and has been shown to ease the side-effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Mistletoe therapy can also help cancer patients cope with symptoms like fatigue, nausea, digestive problems and weight loss, sleeplessness, low mood, recurring infections and pain.

 

 

Joan van Holsteijn, age 53 (above) refused chemotherapy and believes that she fought the cancer by using Mistletoe instead. She had a large tumour in her leg has since had the all-clear since Mistletoe treatment. In a statement she said that she owes her life to Mistletoe and is grateful for such treatment.

In the UK Mistletoe therapy is available via private Homoeopathic Hospitals and clinics, such as ‘Park Attwood’ a non-profit charitable organisation, and up until recently – UK cancer patients – who cannot afford the Mistletoe Therapy have had their treatment funded by the NHS.   

However – such funding is being withdrawn by the UK Government along side other complimentary therapies. This means that it will be no longer available for funding on the NHS – leaving cancer patients who have faith in and draw strength from complimentary medicine like Mistletoe treatment – to try and pay for the treatment themselves.

Debbie Brewer –  (below) A UK resident who was diagnosed with Mesothelioma (a rare lung cancer caused by asbestos inhalation) in 2006, received Mistletoe Therapy at the ‘Park Atwood’ Clinic  in 2008. She had the treatment along side a pioneering treatment called Chemoembolization.


 

 

 

Debbie has a lot of faith in Mistletoe Therapy and she knows from her own experience with the treatment how important it will be to other cancer sufferers like her self. She has currently set up a government petition asking that funding for Mistletoe Therapy will continue to be available on the NHS. An excerpt from her petition reads:

“We hope that the government can look into supporting patients who have found their treatment works, even in a psychological way, please don’t remove what little hope and faith patients have. Mesothelioma has very little open to it that helps patients, taking mistletoe away from these patients is cruel and heartless”

 

Please support and sign Debbie’s Petition here:

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/mistletoe.html


Latest Clinical Trial Involving Pemetrexed and Radiation Shows Promising results In Lung Cancer Patients

July 11, 2010 by Ann-Marie Waters · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Mesothelioma - Latest Research. 


The first scientific trial of an important new combination therapy of treatment with the chemotherapy drug pemetrexed in conjunctionwith radiation in lung cancer patients has delivered promising results, according to a French researchers report at the second ‘European Lung Cancer Conference’.

The results of the Phase I trial suggest that pemetrexed, (unlike some other newly developed chemotherapy drugs) is safely tolerated to allow it to be administered at a high dose with concurrent radiotherapy, increasing the  potentialityof the treatment.

Pemetrexed is predominantly used for the treatment of pleural mesothelioma and already has a respected role in treating metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. It has a chemical structure similar to folic acid, and prohibits the development of DNA and RNA by preventing the formation of the nucleotide bases.

Prof Françoise Mornex, head of the ‘Department of Radiotherapy Oncology at Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud’ and colleagues carried out the first trial of the drug in combination with radiotherapy and cisplatin chemotherapy in cancer patients with stage three lung cancer (locally advanced, and not where the cancer had spread ‘metastatic’).

The trial consisted of 9 patients with no surgical intervention but stage 3 non-small-cell lung cancer. Firstly – they were administered two cyclesof chemotherapy, 3 weeks apart, with 500 mg/m2 of pemetrexed and 75 mg/m2 of cisplatin. This was proceeded by two cycles of combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy, where doses of pemetrexed began at 400 mg/m2 and were then escalated to 500mg/m2 and 600 mg/m2. Cisplatin and radiotherapy at 66 Gy/33 Gy fractions over 7 weeks stayed constant.’

Out of ten patients that commenced treatment, one was omitted from the trial before dose accumulation as a result of disease progression. Out of the remaining 9 however, seven participants completed all 4 phases of chemotherapy, and 8 completed radiotherapy treatment.

Only one patient experienced toxicity on the highest dose of pemetrexed, which was recorded as a grade 4 septic shock.

These particular doses of Pemetrexed were considered to be well-tolerated when given along side  with cisplatin and radiotherapy.It seems to be the only 3rd generation agent that can be favourably recommended safely at the maximumtrials with concurrent radiotherapy.

According to Professor Mornex who led the trial, these findings are important as most of the time, when combining radiation and chemotherapy concurrently, the dose of chemotherapy must be minimised somewhat due to excessive toxicity. The potential problem this presents though – is that by decreasing the chemotherapy dose, one reduces the capability of the chemotherapy on micro metastases and on the primary tumor. However – concerning pemetrexed, the tolerance is acceptable and allows for high cytotoxic doses during radiation, thus improving the chance of destroying cancerous cells.

Professor Mornex added – “This trial will have a positive impact on clinical practice in the near future,and this regimen is already being studied in several ongoing clinical trials around the world; it may become the treatment of choice in the future, for concurrent chemo-radiation schemes.”