Guillermo López Lluch – The Conversation
In his book “The Emperor of All Maladies,” a biography of cancer, Columbia University (New York) Medicine professor Siddhartha Mukherjee recounts the chronicle of cancer from its first diagnosis to modern treatments.
These treatments do not include: pseudoterapias with which the Australian model Elle Macpherson She decided to treat her breast cancer after undergoing a lumpectomy, as she herself revealed in her recent autobiography.
And we do not find these therapies for a simple reason: They don’t follow los demanding scientific parameters necessary to approve treatments that have proven successful and have improved the fight against cancer, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Cancer or different cancers?
Study of breast cancer cells.
Photo: Fickr.
To understand what cancer or cancers are, we must understand what causes cells to stop performing their functions and begin to proliferate uncontrollably.
The origin of cancer is multiple, as are the different types that exist depending on the type of cell that lost control. In short, it is caused by different factors that generate mutations in key genes, which give rise to proteins that control growth signals. These triggers can be physical (X-rays, gamma rays, UV rays), chemical (hundreds of substances that generate mutations), biological (essentially viruses or errors in the copying of genetic material before cell division) and even physiological (hormonal changes).
There is only one step between a tumor and cancer: the one that occurs when the cancer cells leave where they were generated and migrate to other organs. This step is very important because it involves a major change in the capacity of the cancer cells and, in turn, a major problem when it comes to eliminating them. We know this change as metastasis.
That is, we are talking about different things. cells that enter into a process of uncontrolled proliferation due to different factors and that behave differently depending on the type of cell that has been affected. That is why we refer to different types of cancer, with a specific treatment depending on the phase in which it is found.
Elle Macpherson’s cancer
To his 60 yearsElle Macpherson has published a memoir in which she recounts that seven years ago she was diagnosed with a breast cancer. After consulting 32 doctors and meditating and praying on the beaches of Miami, she decided, according to her, do not follow the advice to attack cancer with chemotherapy to use, insteadand “intuitive approachholistic and heart-guided.”
I suppose Olivia Newton-John thought the same before she died of breast cancer in 2022; or Steve Jobs, before pancreatic cancer ended his life; or the Chinese actress Xy Ting before she died of lymphoma. All of them and many others rejected conventional treatment.
Cancer cells do not think, do not meditate and do not “focus their existence”, but rather they grow, metabolize, continue to grow and invade other tissues. And if we maintain the appropriate biological conditions for them, they will continue their uncontrolled program of growth and invasion.
Birth of chemotherapy
Sidney Farber.
Photo: Dana-Farber Institute.
Until the 1940s, being diagnosed with a cancer such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia was a death sentence. However, Sidney Farbera young clinical pediatrician, discovered that leukemic cells needed folic acid to proliferate. Farber rightly thought that if a folic acid was used, compound what block this acid –an antagonist–, we could make life less easy for these cells and increase a life expectancy that was reduced to just a few weeks.
This is how the chemotherapywith aminopterin, a folic acid antagonist that achieved a temporary remission of the aforementioned cancer in children.
Since then, hundreds of compounds have been developed, along with radiation and now immunotherapies, to eliminate cancer cells or block them from proliferating. Thanks to this, having cancer is not necessarily a death sentence.
What is integrative medicine?
According to the clinics that practice it, integrative medicine is a branch that combines conventional medicine with natural medicine to provide a general response to our ailments. Said like that, it sounds very good, and even more so considering that many of our ailments, especially chronic ones, are due to poor nutritional and general lifestyle habits.
We have no doubt about that: many Scientific studies support al exercisethe nutrition and the healthy habits as factors that prevent many of these diseasesincluding breast cancer.
But could we apply this type of medicine to the treatment of cancer? The answer is no. Scientifically based studies agree that This type of medicine does not replace conventional treatments.. And this is because once the tumor process has begun, lifestyle habits can do little or nothing to eliminate uncontrolled cells.
However, integrative medicine therapies such as meditation, certain types of exercise, yoga, massages, better nutrition and, in general, a less stressful life help a lot to ensure that chemotherapy and the immune system do their job and eliminate cancer cells with fewer side effects. There are scientific studies that support this.
Don’t be carried away by the decisions of celebrities
We live in a time in history where we have thousands of different sources of information at our disposal, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re making the best decisions. Elle Macpherson has said she decided not to undergo chemotherapy despite 32 doctors telling her it was the best option for her breast cancer. I hope she doesn’t have to regret it.
We must take into account that the pseudoterapias with based in one lowercase part of science and a huge percentage of fear and misinformationThis misinformation is worse if it comes from famous people who are followed by a lot of people.
Science has recognized that the treatments proposed by some of these pseudotherapies can be complementary and positive because they help to combat cancer. Having recognized this role, do not forget that a clinical trial has never been carried out to test their effectiveness on their own, possibly because no one would survive. Follow your doctor’s recommendations and you will have a chance.
