Saturday Quack – Cancer “Cures”

Every few months news comes of miraculous cancer cures when all else has failed. Other cancer sufferers rush to find out more, usually from the Internet. And there’s generally a lot more to find, in the form of testimonials, requests for donations, and invitations to try the new treatment. Just type in “Cancer Cure” on Google, and you get 36 million sites listed, with alternative medicine (i.e. non-surgery, non-drug, non-radiation) prominent among them. Particularly dangerous is Dr Lorraine Day’s page, which describes her refusal to have any regular (i.e. allopathic) treatment for her breast cancer, which was then cured by the diet she created; she now sells videos, DVD, and books on the “dangerous treatments offered by orthodox medicine and why they are so damaging to your body”, with reference to over 12 types of cancer. All Natural Cancer Therapy is another example; this time the ‘cure’ is for sale online.

None of the alternative approaches to cancer treatment have evidence to back them up. (By evidence I don’t mean the randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials required for new drug registration – these are unsuitable for cancer therapy and not needed to get cancer experts enthused about trying a new treatment, be it a drug, herb, diet, or electronic machine.)

Anyone who claims to have an effective cancer treatment should be willing to provide case reports and all records, imaging and biopsy results for an independent review. The patient should be available for examination, too. The NCI Best Case Series Program is prepared to investigate promising alternative treatments, and is willing to serve as an intermediary in helping establish clear evidence of a new ‘cure’ based on relatively few true-bill documented successes.

If you or a loved one are still in any doubt, please read Dr Peter Moran ’s excellent articles; as a retired general surgeon, he has accumulated the experience necessary to “tell it like it is”. And visit Quackwatch.