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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Few cancer patients or doctors realize that surgery to remove a malignant tumor may inadvertently promote the spread of cancer elsewhere in the body.
Emerging scientific and medical facts provide shocking evidence that cancer surgery, in particular surgery to remove malignant tumors from breast cancer and colon cancer, is associated with an increased risk of cancer recurrence, as well as the spread of cancer (metastasis) elsewhere in the body.
Recently, medical researchers reported in the prestigious journal Annals of Surgery that cancer surgery itself can contribute to changes in the human body that can accelerate the ability of colon cancer cells to break off from the primary tumor and silently migrate to distant sites in the body. The researchers commented, “Both experimental and clinical evidence support that surgery, although greatly reducing tumor mass and potentially curative, paradoxically can also augment metastasis development.”
As another example, a study published in the British Journal of Cancer showed a disturbing increase in risk of death over an eight-year period in those women who received surgery that was not observed in those women who did not have surgery. The researchers commented that, “Primary tumor removal may result in acceleration of (the) metastatic process.”
Given these disturbing findings, what can cancer patients do to protect themselves to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and spread (metastasis)?
One mechanism that allows tumor cells to spread during and after surgery is by suppressing the immune system. A very important type of immune system cell that fights tumor recurrence is a specialized type of white blood cell called the natural killer cell, or NK cell. In a study published in the medical journal International Surgery, researchers found that patients with reduced NK cell activity undergoing colon cancer surgery experienced a whopping 350% increased risk for metastasis in the two and a half years following surgery! In another study published in the British Journal of Surgery, women undergoing surgery for breast cancer experienced a 50% reduction in NK cell activity in the first day after surgery!
Fortunately, several nutritional supplements, and pharmaceutical medications can enhance NK cell activity. For example, protein-bound polysaccharide K (PSK), a specially prepared extract from the mushroom Coriolus versicolor, has been shown in several studies to increase NK cell activity. For example, a study of two hundred twenty-five patients with lung cancer showed that supplementation with three grams of PSK daily tripled the survival rate at five years compared to those not taking PSK, and PSK more than doubled five-year survival in those individuals with less advanced disease.
In another study published in 2008, colon cancer patients supplemented with PSK over a two year period experienced a 61% greater rate of survival as against those patients not supplemented. In a similar trial, reported in the British Journal of Cancer in 2004, colon cancer patients received PSK (3 grams per day) for two-years. In the group with more advanced colon cancer, the five-year survival was 75% in the PSK group and only 46% in the group not supplemented with PSK.
Additional nutritional ingredients with evidence to suggest an increase in NK cell activity include the amino acid L-glutamine, IP6 (inositol hexaphosphate), AHCC (active hexose correlated compound), and lactoferrin.
For example, a prospective clinical study in patients with liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) published in the Journal of Hepatology showed that supplementation with AHCC significantly increased survival by 58% in contrast to the control group (not supplemented with AHCC). In 2006, another clinical study showed that AHCC significantly improved survival, quality of life, physical health, and markers of immune function in 34 patients with liver cancer.
Pharmaceutical medications such as interferon-alpha (IF-alpha) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) also increase NK cell activity. These drugs help prevent surgery-induced immune suppression. Another immune boosting drug to consider in the perioperative setting may be interleukin-2.
For more detailed information on integrative methods to reduce the risk of tumor spread due to surgery, read the December, 2009 edition of Life Extension magazine or log on to www.lef.org to find exciting new developments in healthy aging.
Steven V. Joyal, M.D. is the Vice President of Science and Medical Affairs for Life Extension®, the world’s leading organization dedicated to extending the healthy human life span.
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