What are others saying about cancer regression?
I just read the recent NYT blog post, "Cancer Can Vanish Without Treatment But How?" Have you read it?
It discusses the idea that some cancers can, in fact, almost "heal" themselves. Or at least become dormant, smaller, or merely not deadly. This idea is especially important in regards to the American Cancer Society's New Screening Research published last week. I think a great analogy used in the article is: "With early detection, our net has become so fine that we are pulling in small fish as well as big fish. Now we have to identify which small fish we can let go.”
Because, in fact, it seems that some cancers will not grow and become advanced, life-threatening tumors. While this is still rare, it is something that scientists are looking into. The idea that cancer is linear (begins at one stage and grows bigger and bigger) is being challenged as some less significant cancers are "caught" by the body. In fact, "it is becoming increasingly clear that cancers require more than mutations to progress. They need the cooperation of surrounding cells and even, the whole organism, the person,” whose immune system or hormone levels, for example, can squelch or fuel a tumor."
And while there is convincing evidence to back these theories up, it is important to remember that, "Of course, cancers do not routinely go away, and no one is suggesting that patients avoid treatment because of such occasional occurrences. and biologically, it is a rare phenomenon to have an advanced cancer go into remission." This means people should not necessarily fight against receiving cancer treatment in hopes that it will be cured by their body. If this were true we'd have had a lot fewer cancer deaths in the past (when alternative medicine or prayer were the treatments of choice).
Now - let me open the discussion to you:
What have you heard about this research? What are people in your communities saying about the validity of cancer screening in lieu of these new theories/findings?
What would you tell someone in your community who was questioning treatment for cancer?
Have you experienced cancer that went into remission on its own or something similar?
If you're interested in what others have already said check out this discussion in the Breast Cancer Group.
It discusses the idea that some cancers can, in fact, almost "heal" themselves. Or at least become dormant, smaller, or merely not deadly. This idea is especially important in regards to the American Cancer Society's New Screening Research published last week. I think a great analogy used in the article is: "With early detection, our net has become so fine that we are pulling in small fish as well as big fish. Now we have to identify which small fish we can let go.”
Because, in fact, it seems that some cancers will not grow and become advanced, life-threatening tumors. While this is still rare, it is something that scientists are looking into. The idea that cancer is linear (begins at one stage and grows bigger and bigger) is being challenged as some less significant cancers are "caught" by the body. In fact, "it is becoming increasingly clear that cancers require more than mutations to progress. They need the cooperation of surrounding cells and even, the whole organism, the person,” whose immune system or hormone levels, for example, can squelch or fuel a tumor."
And while there is convincing evidence to back these theories up, it is important to remember that, "Of course, cancers do not routinely go away, and no one is suggesting that patients avoid treatment because of such occasional occurrences. and biologically, it is a rare phenomenon to have an advanced cancer go into remission." This means people should not necessarily fight against receiving cancer treatment in hopes that it will be cured by their body. If this were true we'd have had a lot fewer cancer deaths in the past (when alternative medicine or prayer were the treatments of choice).
Now - let me open the discussion to you:
What have you heard about this research? What are people in your communities saying about the validity of cancer screening in lieu of these new theories/findings?
What would you tell someone in your community who was questioning treatment for cancer?
Have you experienced cancer that went into remission on its own or something similar?
If you're interested in what others have already said check out this discussion in the Breast Cancer Group.
Tags: acs, breast, cancer, cervical, colon, detection, mammogram, prostate, remission, screenings
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alicia C. Staley on -
As an 18 year cancer survivor, I really have a hard time with this concept. Perhaps some cancers can be defeated by the inner workings of our own body. I was diagnosed with lymphoma - there are two types: Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkin's. Linear and non-linear! In the case of Lymphoma, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable calling it a less significant cancer quite yet. I hope to see more information about this theory come out soon.
In the world of breast cancer treatment, I know this has been a hot debate for quite some time now. The idea that the body can fight off some of these breast cancers has fueled the notion that we're over treating some relatively slow growing, extremely small cancers. My question is where do we draw the line? How can we tell when to treat and when to wait? I hope we can get to that point someday soon!
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