Cancer Decisions - Free Newsletter

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OVERCOMING THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF RADIATION TREATMENT FOR CANCER

As readers of this newsletter are probably well aware, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) increasingly approves cancer drugs without requiring that they be shown to prolong life. Indeed, FDA’s approval standards have now become so lenient that in most instances the manufacturer of a drug only has to demonstrate that in clinical trials the drug performs better than a placebo in order to be confident of a smooth passage through the approval process.

But readers are perhaps less aware of the fact that some kinds of cancer treatment have become the standard of care without ever having been evaluated in clinical trials. Many forms of radiation treatment, for example, have simply been "grandfathered in," - i.e., accepted by default largely on the basis of having been around for a long time.

While few would dispute that radiation does have a useful role in the treatment of cancer, the fact remains that in many instances the relative merits of different kinds of radiation treatment, the limits of its usefulness and the extent of its effectiveness have never been clearly established through clinical trials. This has led to a situation where on the one hand the treatment is almost universally available, yet on the other hand there is very little solid evidence comparing the effectiveness of radiation to various other treatment approaches.

The lack of clear and unequivocal information regarding the question of exactly what benefit radiation treatment confers on cancer patients has been a longstanding concern of mine. For the past year we have been working on a series of evaluative reports on the use of radiation in the treatment most of the common types of cancer. The first of this series, "Radiation and the Treatment of Breast Cancer," is already available. To order scroll down to the end of this newsletter or click here.

Another report, "Radiation and the Treatment of Prostate Cancer," will be released within the next few weeks. Over the coming months we will be releasing more of these individual, disease-specific reports as they become available.

We have also written a report on the interaction of radiation with antioxidants "Do Antioxidants Interfere with Radiation Treatment for Cancer?" To order, scroll down to the bottom of this newsletter or click here.

One aspect of radiation therapy that is often overlooked is its capacity to cause sometimes debilitating adverse effects. Patients going through radiation treatment for cancer are seldom adequately forewarned about the unpleasant aspects of treatment, nor told about its capacity to cause long-term harm. Neither are patients typically given nearly enough practical information on how to combat the unpleasant side effects of treatment.

We have now written a practical guide, Overcoming the Adverse Effects of Radiation Therapy, explaining the common negative effects of radiation and how to overcome them. This report will be of immediate value to all patients who are going through radiation treatment or trying to recover from it. As naturopathic physician Daniel Rubin, ND, FABNO, of Scottsdale, AZ, has commented:

"In this report, Ralph Moss demonstrates a global understanding of the mechanisms and pitfalls of radiation therapy. While the benefits of radiotherapy are often discussed, its pitfalls are less well known but can potentially cause harm to people with cancer. It is here that Moss’s report demonstrates its true utility: as a guide for those interested in both preventing and treating the unpleasant side effects of radiotherapy. For such people, Overcoming the Adverse Effects of Radiation Therapy is a must-read."

To order this report, as well as others in our Cancer Decisions© series, please click here or go to:
http://www.cancerdecisions.com/mrstore/index.php

(Please note: We now have a shopping cart at our Web site, so that readers can securely order more than one report at a time.)

PHONE CONSULTATIONS

Last week we received the following letter from a client who had had a phone consultation:

"After a dizzying nine months of physicians and tests, our telephone consultation with Dr. Moss was the opportunity to clearly learn science-based treatment options and understand how to view them in the perspective of a risk to benefit ratio. His expertise led us to wonderful caregivers we may have never found without his invaluable knowledge in this area. It was a 10+ experience from start to finish!" - R.R. 2/26/09

Clients who have purchased a Moss Report can schedule an appointment for a phone consultation by calling 1-800-980-1234 (814-238-3367 from outside the US) or by submitting a request via email to Jacquie@cancerdecisions.com.

CANCER DECISIONS© AND CURRENT TOPICS© REPORTS

Our Cancer Decisions© reports are designed to provide readers with the detailed information they need in order to make difficult treatment decisions. Currently available are:

Radiation and the Treatment of Breast Cancer
Antioxidants and Cancer Treatment (Combination report)
Do Antioxidants Interfere with Radiation Treatment for Cancer?
And, newly launched this week, Overcoming the Adverse Effects of Radiation Therapy

These reports can be purchased and downloaded from our Web site, by clicking here.

OR...Please visit our Web site at www.cancerdecisions.com and click on the blue Radiation Reports button.

Coming shortly in this series: "Radiation and the Treatment of Prostate Cancer."

For a list of our Current Topics reports on issues of interest in the field of cancer research and treatment please click here.

OR...Please visit our Web site at www.cancerdecisions.com and click on the blue Current Topics button.

**NOTE** To view this page in a more printable format, please CLICK HERE.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

The news and other items in this newsletter are intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in this newsletter is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.