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Keith Block, MD
KeithBlockMD (Physician (Verified) )| Communities: All Cancers | Answers: 8 |
| Member Since: Nov. 2012 |
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Professional Statement
Keith I. Block, MD, is an internationally recognized expert in integrative oncology. Referred to by many as the “father of integrative oncology,” Dr. Block combines cutting-edge conventional treatment with individualized and scientifically-based complementary and nutraceutical therapies. In 1980, he co-founded the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Skokie, Illinois, the first such facility in North America, and serves as its Medical and Scientific Director.
The field of integrative oncology was formally recognized by the launching of Integrative Cancer Therapies (ICT). In 2000, Dr. Block was invited by Sage Science Press to be the founding Editor-in-Chief of this peer-reviewed journal, the first medical journal devoted to exploring the research and science behind integrative oncology. In 2007, ICT was accepted by Thomson Scientific for inclusion in the Science Citation Index Expanded™.
Dr. Block is the Scientific Director of the Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Education, where he has collaborated with colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Bar Ilan University in Israel. Dr. Block is also on Dr. Andrew Weil’s faculty at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, the University of Arizona College of Medicine. In 2005, he was appointed to the National Cancer Institute’s Physician Data Query (PDQ) Cancer CAM Editorial Board, on which he continues to serve today.
Dr. Block has published more than 90 scientific papers and numerous articles relevant to nutritional and integrative oncology. Papers have been published in Cancer Treatment Reviews, International Journal of Cancer, Molecular Interventions, Journal of National Cancer Institute and the Breast Journal. He is also the author of Life Over Cancer, published by Bantam Hardcover Books, in April, 2009.
His model of individualized integrative oncology continues to set the standard for the practice of this comprehensive approach to cancer treatment in the U.S.
The field of integrative oncology was formally recognized by the launching of Integrative Cancer Therapies (ICT). In 2000, Dr. Block was invited by Sage Science Press to be the founding Editor-in-Chief of this peer-reviewed journal, the first medical journal devoted to exploring the research and science behind integrative oncology. In 2007, ICT was accepted by Thomson Scientific for inclusion in the Science Citation Index Expanded™.
Dr. Block is the Scientific Director of the Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Education, where he has collaborated with colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Bar Ilan University in Israel. Dr. Block is also on Dr. Andrew Weil’s faculty at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, the University of Arizona College of Medicine. In 2005, he was appointed to the National Cancer Institute’s Physician Data Query (PDQ) Cancer CAM Editorial Board, on which he continues to serve today.
Dr. Block has published more than 90 scientific papers and numerous articles relevant to nutritional and integrative oncology. Papers have been published in Cancer Treatment Reviews, International Journal of Cancer, Molecular Interventions, Journal of National Cancer Institute and the Breast Journal. He is also the author of Life Over Cancer, published by Bantam Hardcover Books, in April, 2009.
His model of individualized integrative oncology continues to set the standard for the practice of this comprehensive approach to cancer treatment in the U.S.
Professional Info
Credential: MD
Medical school: University of Miami School of Medicine
Residency: Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Practice name: The Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment
Practice address:
5230 Old Orchard Road
Skokie, IL
60077
Practice phone number: 1-877-412-5625
Webpage:
http://www.blockmd.com/
KeithBlockMD Activities
There is a lot we still don’t know about triple negative breast cancer patients and what diet and lifestyle might contribute to their well-being. However, there are some intriguing clues to processes that might be going on that could be modified by lifestyle and supplementation. Genetic analyses of these cancers have shown that genes related to elevated inflammation and angiogenesis are over-activated in many patients with triple negative disease. Further, it appears that metabolic syndrome may be more common in triple negative patients than in patients with other breast cancer types.
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, and other metabolic abnormalities. It is also associated with high levels of internal inflammation. These findings argue for an assessment for metabolic syndrome characteristics with your physician. You should also have a terrain assessment to determine whether inflammation or glycemia (abnormal blood glucose or insulin levels) are a problem for you, or whether there might be other imbalanced terrain factors in your case. Especially if you find abnormal levels of inflammation or glycemia, a comprehensive lifestyle intervention is in order. You should be eating a diet high in vegetables and fruits (note that some berries have angiogenesis-inhibiting properties), as well as healthful plant proteins and fish. Avoiding refined grains and sugars is crucial; whole, unrefined grains are much healthier for you. Healthful oils such as olive oil and omega-3 rich oils and nuts should be included in your diet. A committed exercise program including aerobic, strength and flexibility emphases is needed, and may help with weight control if you are not at a healthy weight. Supplementation with herbs and other supplements targeted to terrain abnormalities may help in counteracting the effects of any possibly overactive inflammatory and glycemia-related genes. Block Center staff can help you with developing a full program, and you can also look for advice in implementing this strategy in my book, Life Over Cancer.
In addition, though there are no major post-treatment mainstream therapies for triple negative disease, there have been some encouraging cell culture studies showing combinations of nutrients may slow the progression of this condition. For example, in a recent study, a combination of DHA and curcumin was shown to have antiproliferative effects on triple negative cells cultures. The effect was actually synergistic, which means that the two of them together actually had an effect that is multiplicative not just additive when combined. The effects of genes known to be involved in cell cycle arrest, cell death, inhibition of metastasis, and cell adhesion were enhanced, while the effects of genes involved in cancer development and progression, metastasis, and cell cycle progression were inhibited. Synergy and multi-targeting our actually core concepts of my philosophy of Integrative Cancer Treatment that I have been using for over thirty years now. And as mentioned above, another addition to this protocol would be to do an in-depth molecular tumor profile to find additional vulnerabilities that could be targeted with additional nutrients.
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, and other metabolic abnormalities. It is also associated with high levels of internal inflammation. These findings argue for an assessment for metabolic syndrome characteristics with your physician. You should also have a terrain assessment to determine whether inflammation or glycemia (abnormal blood glucose or insulin levels) are a problem for you, or whether there might be other imbalanced terrain factors in your case. Especially if you find abnormal levels of inflammation or glycemia, a comprehensive lifestyle intervention is in order. You should be eating a diet high in vegetables and fruits (note that some berries have angiogenesis-inhibiting properties), as well as healthful plant proteins and fish. Avoiding refined grains and sugars is crucial; whole, unrefined grains are much healthier for you. Healthful oils such as olive oil and omega-3 rich oils and nuts should be included in your diet. A committed exercise program including aerobic, strength and flexibility emphases is needed, and may help with weight control if you are not at a healthy weight. Supplementation with herbs and other supplements targeted to terrain abnormalities may help in counteracting the effects of any possibly overactive inflammatory and glycemia-related genes. Block Center staff can help you with developing a full program, and you can also look for advice in implementing this strategy in my book, Life Over Cancer.
In addition, though there are no major post-treatment mainstream therapies for triple negative disease, there have been some encouraging cell culture studies showing combinations of nutrients may slow the progression of this condition. For example, in a recent study, a combination of DHA and curcumin was shown to have antiproliferative effects on triple negative cells cultures. The effect was actually synergistic, which means that the two of them together actually had an effect that is multiplicative not just additive when combined. The effects of genes known to be involved in cell cycle arrest, cell death, inhibition of metastasis, and cell adhesion were enhanced, while the effects of genes involved in cancer development and progression, metastasis, and cell cycle progression were inhibited. Synergy and multi-targeting our actually core concepts of my philosophy of Integrative Cancer Treatment that I have been using for over thirty years now. And as mentioned above, another addition to this protocol would be to do an in-depth molecular tumor profile to find additional vulnerabilities that could be targeted with additional nutrients.
New answer by KeithBlockMD (Physician - (Verified)) in topic(s) Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Integrative Treatments, Breast Cancer, Integrative Therapies, Integrative Oncology, Cancer
1
Answer |
5 months ago
There are few individual herbs that I believe actually shrink tumors in patients. That said, we have seen some cases of high-dose, multi-targeted herbal treatments that, combined with a diet and exercise program to re-balance terrain, have had some impressive results with particular cancers. Several herbs certainly have very interesting early-stage research suggesting that they may contribute to controlling cancers. The most powerful contribution that most herbs make to cancer treatment, though, is their ability to safely and gently help patients balance and correct the disruption of internal terrain factors such as inflammation and oxidation that promote growth of cancers as well as degrade quality of life. In addition, there are several herbs and supplements that appear to help make chemotherapy and other treatments more tolerable. An example of this is ginger, which has recently been found in randomized trials to help ease nausea from chemotherapy treatments.
My research staff and I have been delving into the area of tumor molecular growth pathways and nutrients/herbs for over a dozen years now. We have been working on and developing tumor type specific molecular panels over these years. This is a big area of research in the world of Big Pharma; and nutrients have been shown to have profound effects on tumor growth pathways; in fact, nutrients/herbal extract may have an advantage over drugs because they are nontoxic and have what is known as pleiotropic activity (hitting many targets versus a single target like a drug is designed to do). The other advantage of nontoxic nutrients is they can be used in anticipation of the tumor’s next molecular “chess” move. When one growth pathway is blocked, the typical tumor response (yes, we could say tumors have a malicious intelligence of sorts) is to find the next convenient pathway (which can be referred to as substitute or compensatory pathway). Drugs are too toxic to find use in this strategy but herbs/nutrients can be helpful here, potentially slowing down tumor progression.
While most of the research is still in the early preclinical stages, most herbs are safe with the exceptions of those that may interact with certain drugs. A common example is St. Johns Wort, which interacts with many drugs and thus, we generally encourage avoidance unless a patient is able to avoid the use of any conventional drugs. However, some herbs can address multiple targets at one time. For example, curcumin is able to regulate not just a single molecular target but entire pathways (the entire communication network from start to finish). For example, it has been shown to regulate TNFalpha, COX-2, EFGR, HER2/neu receptor, VEGF, Topoisomerase, tubulin, CXCR4, MMP-9 and pAKT.
My research staff and I have been delving into the area of tumor molecular growth pathways and nutrients/herbs for over a dozen years now. We have been working on and developing tumor type specific molecular panels over these years. This is a big area of research in the world of Big Pharma; and nutrients have been shown to have profound effects on tumor growth pathways; in fact, nutrients/herbal extract may have an advantage over drugs because they are nontoxic and have what is known as pleiotropic activity (hitting many targets versus a single target like a drug is designed to do). The other advantage of nontoxic nutrients is they can be used in anticipation of the tumor’s next molecular “chess” move. When one growth pathway is blocked, the typical tumor response (yes, we could say tumors have a malicious intelligence of sorts) is to find the next convenient pathway (which can be referred to as substitute or compensatory pathway). Drugs are too toxic to find use in this strategy but herbs/nutrients can be helpful here, potentially slowing down tumor progression.
While most of the research is still in the early preclinical stages, most herbs are safe with the exceptions of those that may interact with certain drugs. A common example is St. Johns Wort, which interacts with many drugs and thus, we generally encourage avoidance unless a patient is able to avoid the use of any conventional drugs. However, some herbs can address multiple targets at one time. For example, curcumin is able to regulate not just a single molecular target but entire pathways (the entire communication network from start to finish). For example, it has been shown to regulate TNFalpha, COX-2, EFGR, HER2/neu receptor, VEGF, Topoisomerase, tubulin, CXCR4, MMP-9 and pAKT.
New answer by KeithBlockMD (Physician - (Verified)) in topic(s) Herbs, Herbals, Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Complementary Medicine, Herbal Medicine, Cancer Treatments, Integrative Oncology, Cancer
1
Answer |
5 months ago
There are nine specific "clock-related" genes in our brainstems that control our time-dependent biological functions, including sleeping and eating patterns, heart rate, body temperature, and hormone production. Similarly, cancer cells also have time controls; they divide and rest at different times of any given day. While rest and division also occur among healthy cells, their timing differs from that of cancer cells.
We can take advantage of this by administering the drugs at the specific time when cancer cells divide, and are more vulnerable to cell death, and when healthy cells are at rest, and least sensitive to toxicity from chemotherapy. Research demonstrates chronotherapy not only improves treatment tolerance, but can improve response and survival as well. In fact, the literature contains studies showing that chronomodulated chemotherapy can even allow for patients who previously needed to discontinue a chemotherapy protocol - either because it was ineffective, became ineffective prematurely, or was too debilitating to tolerate - and benefit from that identical drug protocol when it was administered via chronomodulated chemotherapy.
Gold standard research supports the use of chronomodulated chemotherapy. For example, for metastatic colon cancer patients, studies show that administering chemotherapy at the optimal time can halve toxicity and double treatment response. For advanced metastatic ovarian cancer, a study in the journal Cancer reported that optimal timing of chemotherapy can reduce toxic side effects by 50 percent and quadruple five-year survival. This is a four-fold improvement! (Four times as many patients were alive at the five year mark). The same study demonstrated a 75 percent reduction in the need to cut the treatment dose!
Chronotherapy at the Block Center
I brought this technology to the U.S. from Europe in the mid 1990s, hoping to improve treatment tolerance among my patients, ultimately enhancing the benefits we were seeing from the integrative approach to treatment we were already providing (In fact, studies suggest that 1/3 of patients discontinue chemotherapy treatment prematurely due to the debilitating physical and psychological consequences).
At the Block Center, we were implementing nutritional strategies and supplement formulations that could help diminish the side effects of chemotherapy – and my research team and I were conducting ongoing studies – when I came across the chronobiology evidence that sleep and activity cycles along with the timing of drug infusions were all clock dependent. The extensive research that demonstrated decreased toxicity and improved survival with the use of chronotherapy persuaded me that we needed to bring this technology to our patients as soon as possible.
At the Block Center, we administer chronotherapy using a portable, computerized pump, small enough to fit in a fanny pack. The infusion of the chemotherapy drug resembles a sine wave curve, it starts infusing quite slowly, and ratchets up in carefully programmed stages. It slowly increases to the middle point of the cycle where it peaks, meaning the drug will be infused at its highest rate, and then slowly ratchets back down in an exact mirror image to its ascending slope. When the drug dosage reaches zero, the cycle is complete.
Though there are currently over 40 major centers in Europe that participate in cooperative research using this method of chemo administration, there are less than a handful of clinics in the U.S. that implement it. Why is this? Currently, cancer treatment in our country is scheduled at the convenience of the hospital, medical center, treating physician, etc., not at the optimal time for the patient. In addition, the complexity of the technology would require training and incur additional expenses to the treating facility that would not be covered by insurance.
However, the potential impact to reduce toxicity, improve response to treatment and even boost survival, makes the need to broaden access to this approach essential. Consider the fact that few if any drugs have improved survival by more than 18 weeks over the past two decades. Then realize that chronomodulating chemotherapy can improve outcomes in many studies by years. Thus, all patients deserve this no-risk/high-benefit approach to chemotherapy. It is my hope that one day chronomodulated chemotherapy will be widely available in this country, as it is outside the U.S.
We can take advantage of this by administering the drugs at the specific time when cancer cells divide, and are more vulnerable to cell death, and when healthy cells are at rest, and least sensitive to toxicity from chemotherapy. Research demonstrates chronotherapy not only improves treatment tolerance, but can improve response and survival as well. In fact, the literature contains studies showing that chronomodulated chemotherapy can even allow for patients who previously needed to discontinue a chemotherapy protocol - either because it was ineffective, became ineffective prematurely, or was too debilitating to tolerate - and benefit from that identical drug protocol when it was administered via chronomodulated chemotherapy.
Gold standard research supports the use of chronomodulated chemotherapy. For example, for metastatic colon cancer patients, studies show that administering chemotherapy at the optimal time can halve toxicity and double treatment response. For advanced metastatic ovarian cancer, a study in the journal Cancer reported that optimal timing of chemotherapy can reduce toxic side effects by 50 percent and quadruple five-year survival. This is a four-fold improvement! (Four times as many patients were alive at the five year mark). The same study demonstrated a 75 percent reduction in the need to cut the treatment dose!
Chronotherapy at the Block Center
I brought this technology to the U.S. from Europe in the mid 1990s, hoping to improve treatment tolerance among my patients, ultimately enhancing the benefits we were seeing from the integrative approach to treatment we were already providing (In fact, studies suggest that 1/3 of patients discontinue chemotherapy treatment prematurely due to the debilitating physical and psychological consequences).
At the Block Center, we were implementing nutritional strategies and supplement formulations that could help diminish the side effects of chemotherapy – and my research team and I were conducting ongoing studies – when I came across the chronobiology evidence that sleep and activity cycles along with the timing of drug infusions were all clock dependent. The extensive research that demonstrated decreased toxicity and improved survival with the use of chronotherapy persuaded me that we needed to bring this technology to our patients as soon as possible.
At the Block Center, we administer chronotherapy using a portable, computerized pump, small enough to fit in a fanny pack. The infusion of the chemotherapy drug resembles a sine wave curve, it starts infusing quite slowly, and ratchets up in carefully programmed stages. It slowly increases to the middle point of the cycle where it peaks, meaning the drug will be infused at its highest rate, and then slowly ratchets back down in an exact mirror image to its ascending slope. When the drug dosage reaches zero, the cycle is complete.
Though there are currently over 40 major centers in Europe that participate in cooperative research using this method of chemo administration, there are less than a handful of clinics in the U.S. that implement it. Why is this? Currently, cancer treatment in our country is scheduled at the convenience of the hospital, medical center, treating physician, etc., not at the optimal time for the patient. In addition, the complexity of the technology would require training and incur additional expenses to the treating facility that would not be covered by insurance.
However, the potential impact to reduce toxicity, improve response to treatment and even boost survival, makes the need to broaden access to this approach essential. Consider the fact that few if any drugs have improved survival by more than 18 weeks over the past two decades. Then realize that chronomodulating chemotherapy can improve outcomes in many studies by years. Thus, all patients deserve this no-risk/high-benefit approach to chemotherapy. It is my hope that one day chronomodulated chemotherapy will be widely available in this country, as it is outside the U.S.
New answer by KeithBlockMD (Physician - (Verified)) in topic(s) Chronomodulated Chemotherapy, Cancer Treatments, Integrative Oncology, Cancer, Chemotherapy
1
Answer |
5 months ago
As a new cancer patient at the Block Center, your visit will begin with detailed evaluation of your medical records, clinical and integrative assessments and questionnaires on your lifestyle and medical history. Just as any medical center would do, of course, we will conduct a thorough medical screening and physical examination, possibly including additional tests, followed by an extensive consultation with one of our physicians. You will also receive our comprehensive integrative lifestyle assessment tests discussed in the previous question -http://talkabouthealth.com/how-do-you-track-the-progress-of-integrative-cancer-treatments-at-your-center-what-tests-and-measurements-do-you-follow. The results will be used by your physician and also our integrative practitioners for counseling. You’ll meet with one of our dietitians for a complete nutritional assessment and the first phase of your personalized dietary strategy. After you have completed blood tests to assess your terrain, you will be scheduled for a follow-up phone call with your dietitian, who will explain your results and possibly recommend herbs and supplements that might be useful for you. All patients are also referred to our stress care and physical care teams, to help develop strategies to cope with the ups and downs of cancer, and to help you develop an exercise and physical activity program suited to your specific needs. Our physical care instructors can coach you on a variety of eastern and progressive types of fitness routines including yoga, chi gong, tai chi and pilates as well as the correct use of exercise equipment using our treadmills, exercise bikes and other fitness equipment, located adjacent to our cancer chemotherapy unit. If you are in the clinic at lunchtime, you could also attend a cooking class and lunch in our teaching kitchen, and learn how to implement a plant-based, whole foods diet. These classes are regularly attended by our chemotherapy patients, who also can take advantage of individual yoga sessions, massage, reflexology and other therapies while they’re doing their treatments.
In early 2013, we will also begin a new 2-day cancer lifestyle training program for patients. Participants in this program will receive small-group classes in nutrition, exercise, stress care, supplements and the Life Over Cancer system. They will also have a group session to learn our Block Be Fit exercise program – tai chi and yoga moves strategically blended to meet the needs of cancer patients with a wide diversity of physical limitations and strengths. There will also be two lunchtime cooking classes, and each patient will meet individually with an oncologist, an integrative physician, and our nutrition, stress care and physical care teams. In short, at the Block Center, cancer treatment is a lot more than surgery, radiation and chemotherapy: We treat all aspects of a patient’s health and well-being with a comprehensive integrative treatment program individualized to their unique needs.
In early 2013, we will also begin a new 2-day cancer lifestyle training program for patients. Participants in this program will receive small-group classes in nutrition, exercise, stress care, supplements and the Life Over Cancer system. They will also have a group session to learn our Block Be Fit exercise program – tai chi and yoga moves strategically blended to meet the needs of cancer patients with a wide diversity of physical limitations and strengths. There will also be two lunchtime cooking classes, and each patient will meet individually with an oncologist, an integrative physician, and our nutrition, stress care and physical care teams. In short, at the Block Center, cancer treatment is a lot more than surgery, radiation and chemotherapy: We treat all aspects of a patient’s health and well-being with a comprehensive integrative treatment program individualized to their unique needs.
New answer by KeithBlockMD (Physician - (Verified)) in topic(s) Cancer Centers, Cancer Treatment Centers, Integrative Cancer Treatment Centers, Block Center, Integrative Oncology
1
Answer |
5 months ago
The evidence base for integrative treatments varies for different treatments. Some integrative therapies, such as St John’s Wort for mild to moderate depression, or hypnosis for easing the surgical experience, have been tested in randomized controlled trials. Some, on the other hand, have only laboratory testing to back up their claims; for example, some facets of traditional Chinese medicine and most, if not all, “alternative” interventions. I strongly advise patients work with a clinician who knows the state of research on many different therapies. In addition, using therapies with the highest level of evidence (clinical-based versus laboratory based) is generally advised.
However, there are therapies with relatively little research that may offer a lot to certain cancer patients, particularly those with advanced disease who have few conventional treatment options available to them. With any treatment option a patient may be considering, I recommend researching what is known about that specific treatment. The first questions should always be “how safe is it?” A treatment doesn’t need as much proof of efficacy if the approach being considered has little to no known risks, toxicity or side effects. Nonetheless, the next question should be “is there meaningful scientific data that demonstrates that the treatment actually works?” Related to this question, one should ask “what level of research was performed to determine the effectiveness of the treatment?” Since few alternative and even some integrative treatments have high level evidence to demonstrate efficacy, one should get input from an integrative physician and carefully examine the rationale of any treatment option before initiating care. And then there is the feasibility for the patient to do the therapy, evaluating concerns such as cost, travel, inconvenience, etc.
I would also like to mention that there are also a number of internet databases that offer assessments of different integrative cancer therapies, including MedlinePlus of the National Library of Medicine, and the PDQ® Cancer Information Summaries: Complementary and Alternative Medicine, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (by way of disclosure, I am a member of the committee responsible for working with the NCI on this patient and practitioner resource).
However, there are therapies with relatively little research that may offer a lot to certain cancer patients, particularly those with advanced disease who have few conventional treatment options available to them. With any treatment option a patient may be considering, I recommend researching what is known about that specific treatment. The first questions should always be “how safe is it?” A treatment doesn’t need as much proof of efficacy if the approach being considered has little to no known risks, toxicity or side effects. Nonetheless, the next question should be “is there meaningful scientific data that demonstrates that the treatment actually works?” Related to this question, one should ask “what level of research was performed to determine the effectiveness of the treatment?” Since few alternative and even some integrative treatments have high level evidence to demonstrate efficacy, one should get input from an integrative physician and carefully examine the rationale of any treatment option before initiating care. And then there is the feasibility for the patient to do the therapy, evaluating concerns such as cost, travel, inconvenience, etc.
I would also like to mention that there are also a number of internet databases that offer assessments of different integrative cancer therapies, including MedlinePlus of the National Library of Medicine, and the PDQ® Cancer Information Summaries: Complementary and Alternative Medicine, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (by way of disclosure, I am a member of the committee responsible for working with the NCI on this patient and practitioner resource).
New answer by KeithBlockMD (Physician - (Verified)) in topic(s) Unorganized, Integrative Treatments, Evidence, Evidence Based, Integrative Cancer Treatments, Integrative Oncology, Cancer Treatments
1
Answer |
5 months ago
The primary tests that we use the standard medical assessments including, but not limited to, tumor markers, CT scans, PET-CT Scans and monitoring of physical symptoms. These are absolutely necessary to make sure your treatment plan is favorably impacting your disease. We also provide some more innovative testing not generally part of a conventional workup. These are laboratory tests that assess your biochemical terrain by analyzing a number of terrain factors, such as inflammation, oxidation, glycemia, immunity, blood coagulation and stress hormones. The results provide our physicians and dietitians the information needed to individualize and personalize both a diet and supplement program to help create a cancer inhibitory environment. Terrain factors are reevaluated 2-3 times per year for patients with active cancers and recommendations are modified as needed. We also provide an integrative lifestyle assessment. This is a series of questionnaires and in-office tests that evaluate lifestyle, diet, overall distress, body composition and parameters of physical activity, such as cardiac endurance, flexibility and strength. These assessments are regularly reviewed to provide support and counsel on an ongoing basis. Additionally, we perform comprehensive molecular tumor tissue analysis. Since cancer is a function of multiple gene related defects, this testing allows us the ability to select pharmaceutical and nutritional strategies to more precisely impact tumor targets affecting your disease.
New answer by KeithBlockMD (Physician - (Verified)) in topic(s) Measuring Progress, Integrative Treatments, Integrative Treatment Measures, Integrative Cancer Treatments, Tracking Progress, Integrative Treatment Tests, Tests, Integrative Oncology, Cancer Tests
1
Answer |
5 months ago
I’m not sure whether you have had cancer originating in several different organs, or whether you are discussing one cancer that has gone to several different sites in the body. From your description, I’ll assume it’s the first, such that you could have had, for example, skin cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer. If this is indeed the case, you should first be assessed for one of the genetic cancer risk syndromes so that your doctors can advise you more accurately about monitoring and prevention. I would also suggest a comprehensive lifestyle program, with a plant-based whole-foods diet, and an exercise and stress management program tailored to your specific needs. It would also be helpful for you to get a comprehensive assessment of what I have long referred to as your internal “biochemical terrain.” This would allow us to assess for abnormally high levels of inflammation, oxidation, glycemia or other terrain factors that could be contributing to your history of “multiple different types of cancer.” In my book, Life Over Cancer, the chapters addressing our core diet, prescriptive exercise and personalized mind-spirit programs would be important for helping you put together a more comprehensive regimen for combating your illness. Additionally, I would suggest the chapter on “what to do when treatment ends” which focuses on the first year you are cancer free, as well as the “remission maintenance program,” which details a long term plan for remaining cancer free.
1
Answer |
5 months ago
No, there is no evidence of a harmful interaction. According to Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, none of these supplements is likely to interact with other herbal medicines. However, it is important to note that each of these compounds have immune stimulating properties, relating to different aspects of immune defense. In theory, someone who has an autoimmune disease, or who is taking immunosuppressant drugs, using all three together could potentially upregulate immune activation and thus, might be problematic.
New answer by KeithBlockMD (Physician - (Verified)) in topic(s) Spirulina, Chlorella, Integrative Medicine, Natural Medicines, Reshi, Complementary Medicine
1
Answer |
5 months ago
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