Cytotoxic Therapy

Due to the latest discoveries in the nutraceutical field, and to the tolerance induction mechanism, we can offer chemotherapy in the IRT. At Oasis of Hope Hospital, chemotherapy is effective without compromising the patient’s quality of life.

There is no question about the anti-tumor power of radio and chemotherapy, but until now we were not able to use them due to their devastating side effects, and because they went against our primary principle, which is “Do the body no harm”. But now, thanks to the latest discoveries in the nutraceutical field, and the possibility to induce tolerance to oxidative stress, we can offer them in this integrative therapy. At Oasis of Hope, radio and chemotherapy are effective without compromising the patient’s quality of life. Radio and chemotherapy within IRT have been specifically designed to create the maximum anticancer effect with the least possible adverse effects.

Conventional radiotherapy is applied when the patient requires it. And chemotherapy is used in two ways:

Conventional chemotherapy which is applied intravenously during the patients stay in the hospital to destroy tumor cells.

Metronomic chemotherapy which is the chronic administration of chemotherapy at relatively low, minimally toxic doses on a frequent schedule and at closer intervals, with no prolonged drug-free breaks. It is taken orally at home in between chemotherapy cycles and during the maintenance phase. Metronomic chemotherapy works primarily by inhibiting the development of new blood vessels, resulting in the reduction of tumor growth and invasive activity.

Chemoteraphy with a C
Intravenous Vitamin C Therapy for Cancer

A high proportion of cancers have low activity of the enzyme catalase, which degrades the oxidant chemical hydrogen peroxide. This adaptation may be beneficial to the cancer; although oxidant chemicals can be toxic to cells, moderate increases in oxidant stress aid the growth and survival of many cancers. However, low catalase makes cancers potentially vulnerable to attack with hydrogen peroxide. Recently, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered that high concentrations of vitamin C (ascorbate) can react spontaneously with molecular oxygen within tumors to generate large amounts of hydrogen peroxide, which can be lethal to tumor cells whose catalase activity is low. Such large concentrations can only be achieved by high dose intravenous infusions of vitamin C - oral administration is ineffective in this regard. These findings rationalize several previous case reports of objective tumor regression in cancer patients treated repeatedly with high-dose intravenous vitamin C. The vitamin C is not toxic to normal healthy tissues, because they have ample amounts of catalase activity.

Tumor Oxygenation - Ozone and Perftec

However, this strategy can only work well in tumors that have adequate levels of oxygen, as ascorbate reacts with oxygen to produce the hydrogen peroxide. Portions of many tumors tend to be low in oxygen (hypoxic), as the blood flow through tumors is often sluggish compared to that which supplies normal tissues; this evidently could compromise the anti-tumor efficacy of vitamin C therapy. To overcome this problem, Oasis Hospital employs several complementary techniques that can boost the oxygen content of tumors. Ozone autohemotherapy alters the properties of blood so that it is less viscous, its cellular elements are more flexible, and its oxygenated red blood cells surrender oxygen to tissues more readily (rightward shift of dissociation curve); also, it promotes vasodilation by stimulating nitric oxide release by the endothelial lining of small arteries. The net result is more oxygen delivery to the tumor. This strategy involves drawing a small amount of blood, treating it with a mixture of ozone and oxygen, and re-infusing it. Ozone autohemotherapy has been used extensively in Europe, and is known to be safe.

Oasis also has a novel perfluorochemical known as Perftec that is an oxygen carrier; when infused into a patient, it greatly boosts the total oxygen carrying capacity of blood. After Perftec infusion, patients are asked to breathe air that is enriched in oxygen content, so that the circulating Perftec is loaded with optimal amounts of oxygen. The combination of ozone autohemotherapy and Perftec infusion can be expected to improve oxygen availability in hypoxic regions of tumors - which in turn should boost the ability of intravenous ascorbate to generate hydrogen peroxide in tumors.

PERFTORAN (PERFTEC)
Background
PERFTORAN is a PFC-based artificial blood substitute with O2 carrying capacity. It was developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences between 1979-1995. Permission for the wide clinical application of PERFTORAN was received in 1996 from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (1). The industrial manufacturing of PERFTORAN began in 1997. PERFTORAN was registered in Mexico as PERFTEC in November 2005, with the therapeutic indication of blood substitute.

Actions
1)Increases the oxygen transport from the lungs into the tissues.(1).
2)Improves gas exchange and metabolism in tissues (1).
3)Restores the central hemodynamics (1).
4)Stabilizes cell membranes (1).
5)Improves blood flow and peripheral microcirculation (1).
6)Produces a cardioprotective effect during acute hemodilution, hemorrhages, and heart surgeries (1).
7)Enhances liver’s detoxification function (1).

Carrier Action
Dissolving Capacity
The O2 dissolving capacity of PFC, human blood, PERFTORAN, and Plasma, water, and blood volume replacement solutions is indicated in table 2. This table shows that the O2 dissolving capacity of PERFTORAN is thrice as high as that of any of conventional blood substitutes (saline solution, Ringer’s solution, and others) but is almost three times lower than the oxygen capacity of the whole blood. However, a static analysis based solely on the capacity to dissolve o2 is flawed because it does not take into account the rheological properties of PFC emulsions.

The capacity to dissolve O2 is a static concept that does not change, yet the capacity to transport O2 is a dynamic concept that can change depending on the homodynamic and the rheological properties of the substance. Therefore, PERFTORAN increases O2 transport from the lungs to the tissue both by its own O2 carrying capacity and by its rheological properties: low viscosity, small particle size, large total surface area, modification of the RBC membranes, high mobility of PFC particles in the blood stream during interaction with RBCs (1).