Higher Cancer Rates in Poorer Countries
People in poorer countries are starting to have higher rates of cancer, according to he medical journal The Lancet. Many of the deaths caused by cancer in these areas are able to be prevented at a relatively low cost, and should be treated as seriously as the HIV/AIDS problem is in these areas.
“It’s not unlike what we faced with AIDS in the late 1990s, when antiretroviral therapy became available,” he said. “That it’s expensive; people say it was impossible; it was too complex. It was exactly the same skepticism that we have today around cancer.”
Many people in low income to middle income countries do not believe that cancer can be cured, which is a big problem, as with the right treatments it is more than curable, and can be treated or prevented, even in poorer areas.
“The success of AIDS treatment shows that actually when you’re in very resource-constrained settings, you can actually diagnose and successfully treat and control a disease that otherwise, left without treatment, will produce enormous suffering and death,” he said.
With funding lacking in poorer areas for cancer treatments, many of the world’s cancer death are in these areas, with 80% of cancer related deaths happening in these areas.
Filed Under: Offbeat News
THE REMARKABLE ANTICANCER PROPERTIES OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS
Oncology is in desperate need of a paradigm shift. The shift dates back to 1981, when I published the first of nine reviews on the remarkable, immunostimulating and antimicrobial properties of lithium and antidepressants, and culminated in 2001 with publication of the first of five articles on the anticancer properties of antidepressants. Innumerable vested interests have prevented the paradigm shift from reaching the bedside.
The idea that antidepressants might be effective for cancer was first explored fifty years ago, and ample proof has emerged. To verify, access Medline or Pubmed, and enter “antidepressants” and “cancer.” With patience, you may retrieve more than seventy studies showing that antidepressants destroy cancer cells, inhibit their proliferation, convert multidrug resistant cells to chemotherapy sensitive, protect nonmalignant cells from damage by ionizing radiation and chemotherapy toxicity, and target the mitochondria of cancer cells, while sparing those of healthy ones. Antidepressants can arrest cancer even in advanced stages, occasionally reverse it, significantly extend life, and have shown effectiveness in malignancies often resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. In 1998, Brenda Penninx showed that at age 70, people who are chronically depressed have an increased risk of cancer of 88%, and an increased risk of dying of it of 50%.
Paradigm shifts may not become medical revolutions unless widely disseminated, so as to bypass vested interests. This one could do wonders for people, and for health economics. I have contributed five reviews and two books to the advance.
Lieb, J. “Antidepressants, eicosanoids and the prevention and treatment of cancer.” Plefa (2001) 65(5&6), 233-239
Lieb, J. “Antidepressants, prostaglandins and the prevention and treatment of
cancer.” Medical Hypotheses (2007) 684-689
Lieb, J.”The multifaceted value of antidepressants in cancer therapeutics.” Editorial comment. European Journal of Cancer 44 (2) 2008 172-174
Lieb, J.”Defeating cancer with antidepressants.” Ecancermedicalscience. DOI 10.3332/eCMS.2008.88
Lieb, J.”The remarkable anticancer properties of antidepressants.” DOI.10.3332/eCMS.LTR.149
Lieb, J.”Stimulating immune function to kill viruses.” (2009) Amazon
Lieb, J.”Killing Cancer” (2010) Amazon
A clinical experience with Mianserin therapy in lung cancer patients
.Two groups of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were analyzed and compared: Group A-26 patients (12 treated with chemotherapy –CT, 14 with best supportive care BSC), all receiving 10mg/day of Mianserin and Group B-26 patients with comparable corresponding characteristics, who were treated with chemotherapy.
An objective clinical response to chemotherapy was observed in five patients receiving Mianserin, and only two patients who did not receive it. Median survival time for Mianserin patients was also significantly better. A surprising fact emerged in 2 patients with adenocarcinoma: one with local tumor recurrence and diffuse bone metastases, evidently stable with no further progression for 37 months, the other with metastases in the upper mediastinal lymph nodes, with no further progression for 26 months. Symptom control (pain, dyspnea, and emotional functioning) were significantly better in Mianserin Group A.
Antidepressants are highly specific and humans variable, thus some of the non responders may well have responded to alternatives to Mianserin.
Jovanovic D, et al Mianserin therapy in advanced lung cancer patients. 8th Central European Lung Cancer Conference. Vienna 2002. Internal Process Division, Monduzzi Editore 2002; 339-343