Guide to Cancer Treatment
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Part I - Cancer Industry Overview: 
Part II - Initial Diagnosis of Cancer:
Part III - Cancer Therapy Options: 
  a. If chemo is being considered, it's critical to have the chemosensitivity testing results or possibly MD Anderson recommendation for gene mutation analysis being performed. 
  b. Understanding the importance of building up and protecting the immune system prior to and during cancer treatment. 
  c. Understanding how cancer cells work (abnormal growth pattern, how they communicate, how they build up defenses against immune system, etc.) 
  d. Getting a Physicians Data Query (PDQ) for your type of cancer which discusses therapy options by stage based on clinical trial data. 
  e. Knowing your odds of survival and typical progression timeline. 
  f.  Determining measures of success versus failure for various therapy options (i.e. living with cancer in remission vs. cure). 
  g. Becoming informed on measures that will mitigate side effects of therapy option chosen. 
  h. If late stage cancer diagnosis, a review of clinical trials available.  Understanding the different types of clinical trials and the pros and cons of each.  The importance in many clinical trials of no previous therapy options used.


Part IV - Nutrition for Cancer:
Part V - More Cancer Resources:
Part VI – Cancer Medical Terms:
Part VII – Survivor Characteristics:

Part VIII - Self-help Approaches:
Part IX – Testimonials of Survivors:
Part X – Forum for Patients:
Part XI - What would I do: 
Part XII - Recent Developments:
Part XIII - Other Cancer Info: 

Part III - Making Critical Decisions on Cancer Therapy Options 
          a. If one of the options being considered is chemotherapy

There are many treatment options to consider for cancer treatment, but if chemotherapy is one of them, there are several very important tests to consider before choosing that option.

The first, and most reliable test, is called chemosensitivity testing.  It involves sending a sample of the patient's cancer tissue to one of the laboratories  that performs testing using up to 35 different combination of drugs to determine which cancer drug combination will kill the cancer cells for that individual. This is in contrast to most U.S. medical centers who use clinical trial data to determine which chemo drugs have shown to work best for “most” patients with that particular type and stage of cancer.  However, we all have a unique DNA and thus what works for "most" people can frequently not work for you. The link below shows one of the best known labs that performs these chemosensitivity tests:  (further detail on this topic is available in Part II e. of this website) Rational Therapeutics 

Another possible option is a test that was recently conducted in a clinical trial at MD Anderson involving identification of a gene mutation that might then afford the option of a “targeted” drug treatment.  A discussion of this test is included in the link below:
Libby’s H*O*P*E


If chemotherapy is the treatment option chosen, then one might also consider using Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT) which allows for only about 10% of the normal dosage being required to achieve the same results as whole body administered chemotherapy.  This results is a significant reduction in side effects, most importantly less harmful effects to the immune system. A discussion of IPT and one of the very few medical centers in the U.S. that use it in combination with chemosensitivity testing is included at the link below:
IPT Therapy