Issels Treatment Summary
The Issels Treatment is an immunotherapy program with an extenvsive 50-year history in the treatment of advanced cancer.
This very comprehensive, non-toxic strategy for cancer of all types and stages is designed to stimulate the body's regulatory, repair and immune mechanisms to recognize and eliminate cancer cells. It is always tailored to individual needs and integrates cancer vaccine protocols when indicated.
Documented Complete Long Term Remissions of Advanced Cancer **
Rhabdomyosarcoma of the left jaw
Before Issels Treatment 22 years later.
32 years cancer free.
Malignant Mediastinal Tumor
Before Issels Treatment 1 year later.
32 years cancer free.
Adenoarcinoma, Bone Cancer, Breast Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Colon Cancer, Embryonal Teratoma, Kidney Cancer, Liver Cancer, Lung Cancer, Lymphoma, Mediastinal Cancer, Melanoma, Optic Nerve Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Osteosarcoma, Pancreatic Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Sarcoma, Squamous Cell Cancer, Stomach Cancer, Teratoma, Testicular Cancer, Thyroid Cancer, Uterine Cancer
*** RECENT CASES ****
** DISCLAIMER: The extent of the response to treatment varies from patient to patient, even with similar diagnosis as the internal bodily environment is unique to each individual patient.
>>> For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on Treatment and Costs please click here or call 1.888.447.7357.
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Background
The Issels Treatment has become internationally known for its outcomes in the treatment of thousands of patients suffering from advanced cancer that had failed conventional treatment. It was developed by Dr. Josef M. Issels who was a world renowned pioneer of integrative cancer medicine. From 1981 until his retirement in 1987, Dr. Issels served as an expert member of the German Federal Government Commission in the Fight Against Cancer.
Concept
The Issels Treatment is based on the concept:
* Malignant tumors do not develop in a healthy body with intact defense, repair and regulatory functions.
* Cancer presents in a specific internal environment which promotes its growth.
*
This environment develops due to multiple causes and conditions which vary from one individual to the other.
* These causes usually remain chronically active even after removal of the tumor by surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. Hence, the high percentage of recurrence.
* The Issels Treatment program places equal importance on the removal of the tumor itself and on the causes and conditions leading to the body's tendency to develop malignant tumors.
Comprehensive Treatment
The Issels Treatment is a very comprehensive strategy for cancer of all types and stages, and always adjusted to the individual patient's needs.
The treatment program consists of:
- Specific Components, which are directed at the elimination of the cancer cells and tumors such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and cancer vaccines.
- Non-Specific Components, which aim to normalize the internal bodily environment, the "soil" on which the cancer has grown, and restore the body's ability to fight the disease.
Vaccines
• Extracorporeal photopheresis with the autologous dendritic cell vaccine, FDA-approved for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma due to research by Richard L. Edelson, Carole L. Berger et al.
Via the photopheresis device, pathogens and abnormal cells are destroyed through exposure to ultraviolet light, which also has an enormous immune-boosting effect. During this procedure, monocytes are separated from the blood then cultured to maturity; converting them to active dendritic cells. These are injected into the patient in small customized doses over a certain period of time.
• Coley's mixed bacterial vaccine
Research findings suggest that this vaccine activates the innate immune system, opens blockades in the body’s connective tissues, enhances the formation of the body’s own interferons, interleukins, colony stimulating factors, tumor necrosis factor, and other potent disease fighters.
• Issels’ Autologous vaccine
Issels autologous vaccine is cultured from the patient’s own blood that represents his/her own unique internal bodily environment. The preparation follows procedures that favor the development of antigenic peptides and other immunogenic compounds aiming to enhance the body’s cancer fighting mechanisms.
* * * * * * *
"Immunotherapy may be one of the only ways left to deal with cancer. We’ve gone as far as we can with chemotherapy," says oncologist Herman Kattlove, an editor for the American Cancer Society. With few new drugs coming out, he says, "chemotherapy is sort of a dead area..." With dendritic cells, "what convinced me is that we saw responses," says Dr. Levy (Stanford University). -- New Weapon in Cancer War. The Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2003: B1.
* * * * * * *
Non-specific Treatment
The non-specific treatment is as important as the specific treatment. Clinical experience over many years has shown that it is essential in optimizing the effectiveness of the vaccines and other tumor-specific measures.
The treatment is designed and aimed to --
- Remove Causal Factors
- Repair Damages to Organs and Organ Systems
- Restore Regulatory and Immune Mechanisms
It helps to attack cancer indirectly by eliminating the preconditions for its existence. It also contributes to prevent disease progression and recurrence.
The Issels strategy includes standard treatments if indicated. The Comprehensive Issels Treatment Program has been been shown to enhance the effectiveness and reduce the toxic side effects of standard treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy.
The Non-Specific Treatment Components are natural substances and modalities with no or few side effects to some patients. They enhance each other by following a special treatment system developed over many years. They include, but are not limited to:
- Nutritional immunotherapy primarily of organic foods (vegetables, freshly pressed vegetable juices, protein according to individual needs), is always adjusted to individual needs. It also includes
- Intravenous nutrition and nutraceuticals, as well as anti-oxidants, minerals, trace elements, tissue salts, amino acids, herbal substances, as well as vitamins such as Vitamin C.
- Co-Enzyme CO-Q10, has become known as powerful anti-oxidant. It has shown a strong anti-tumor effect in a breast cancer trial in Copenhagen, Denmark. Principal investigator Karl Folkers reports regression of liver and lung tumors in a current German trial.
Recent studies conducted at the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine suggest, according to research director Niven R. Narain, that CO-Q10 restores apoptotic potential (programmed cell death) to cancer cells without harming the healthy cells.
In 2005, the National Cancer Institute in Washington (NCI) analyzed reports on CO-Q10 that appeared in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. The reports reveal that CO-Q10 has been shown to lengthen the survival of patients with breast, prostate, pancreatic, lung, and colorectal cancer.
- Melatonin.
- Autohemotherapy, a preparation from the patient's own blood, helps boost the immune system.
- Enzymatic therapy improves digestion, the elimination of immune complexes and the break down of the fibrin coating of cancer cells.
- Oxidative therapies, such as
- Photoluminescence Therapy and Ozone Therapy improve cellular respiration and immunity.
- Glandulars help regenerate organs such as the liver, the thyroid, the thymus gland and other glands.
- Laetrile, also called Amygdalin or Vitamin B 17, has shown to attack cancer without the toxic side effects of chemotherapy.
- Polarizing solution, which is a mixture of glucose, potassium, and insulin (GKI) administered intravenously has shown to reverse tissue damage (edema) in normal tissue surrounding tumors, and to destabilize malignant growths by making them acid. This treatment was developed by Demetrio Sodi-Pallares, M.D.
- Phytotherapy with herbal medicinal products is administered according to individual requirements.
- Urea/Creatine Therapy as part of our treatment program has shown over several years to be an important alternative method of tumor debulking in various types of cancer. E. Danopoulos published in respected journals many provocative reports of tumor responses to synthetic urea and creatine.
- Reossification Therapy using substances such as calcitonin, clodronate, pamidronate, zolodronic acid, etc. has shown to build-up cancer-damaged bones.
- Chelation Therapy.
- Detoxification procedures through improved function of the liver, kidneys, colon, lung and skin assist the body in its endeavors to get rid of metabolic waste and toxins that impair immune functions.
- Colon Hydotherapy.
- Psychological Guidance and Emotional Support/Spiritual Support in single and group sessions enhance the effectiveness of all other treatment components.
- Physical Therapy.
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For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on Treatment and Costs please
click here or call
1.888.447.7357.
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Rationale
Cancer patients’ immune and regulatory mechanisms fail to recognize cancer cells and eliminate them. They tolerate them.
The Issels comprehensive immunotherapy is designed to break through this "tolerance". It is a unique blend of non-toxic treatment modalities that complement and enhance one another in an effort to attack the cancer and at the same time to restore the body's regulatory, repair and defense systems, of which the immune system is one important part. In general terms, some of these treatments work on the levels of the biochemical defense and help cancer cells undergo differentiation as encoded in the genes that cause them to die through programmed cell death called apoptosis. Other treatment modalities work on the levels of cell-mediated and humoral immunities.
It is a proprietary program that is only available at the Issels Treatment Centers.
The Issels Treatment strategy includes standard treatments when indicated.
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The Issels Concept of the Development of Cancer and its Treatment
Published by Josef M. Issels, MD
The Issels Treatment was developed by Josef M. Issels, MD., leading pioneer of integrative cancer medicine.
Dr. Issels was the first to integrate conventional and alternative/ complementary treatments into a comprehensive treatment program that focuses on both the cancer tumor and the internal bodily environment which promotes the tumor growth.
In 1951 in Germany, Dr. Issels was the first to open a hospital for conventionally incurable cancer patients specializing in comprehensive immunotherapy. In 1970 the hospital grew from 80 to 120 patient beds and expanded its extensive research facilities, including the immunological, microbiological, dental and hyperthermia departments. The hospital's programs included research on tumor vaccines, mycoplasma and bacterial vaccines inducing fever, hyperthermia, etc. Ninety percent of the patients treated at the hospital had exhausted standard cancer treatment.
From 1981 until 1987, Dr. Issels served as an expert member of, and advisor to, the Commission of the German Federal Government in the Fight Against Cancer. He presented many papers to national and international medical congresses and within programs of continuing education. He also published three monographs.
The diagram below explains the concept of the comprehensive Issels Treatment that focuses on both the cancer tumors and the internal bodily environment which promotes the tumor growth. Within this concept each treatment modality has its clearly defined task to fulfill in the endeavor to eliminate the tumor and restore the body’s innate cancer fighting properties.
Click Chart for a larger view
Explanation of the diagram:
Pre-and postnatal endogenous and exogenous causal factors (I) can lead by mutagenic, toxic, sensitizing or neural effects via the transit mesenchyme to secondary damages to organs and organ systems and so to functional disturbances of the neural, hormonal, excretory and defense systems (II).
These secondary damages and especially the disturbance of the detoxification system deteriorate the internal environment and can lead to complex metabolic disturbances which are common to all chronic disease and cancer.
Further constant influence of the causal factors and the persistence of secondary damages can produce a functional imbalance and deteriorate the defense and repair mechanisms. Depending on inherited constitution and disposition, this can develop into a chronic degenerative disease and a "tumor-milieu," (III) the ideal medium for cancer cells and micro-organisms found in cancer to grow. The body has acquired the tendency to produce malignant tumors.
With the manifestation of the tumor (IV), the cancer disease enters the recognizable phase. At this time, conventional cancer treatment begins with the weapons directed against the cancer tumor and its symptoms (V).
According to the concept that cancer starts as a locally confined growth, all measures concentrated on the tumor alone seem causal and exhaustive.
Treating the tumor alone is not treating the condition that is producing it: the underlying cancer disease. Consequently, there is a high rate of relapse.
According to the comprehensive concept, however, cancer is considered a systemic disease from the onset and the tumor as its late stage symptom.
Following this concept the Issels Treatment has two lines of approach which are of equal importance and complement each other.
- A non-specific basic therapy aiming to eliminate causal factors, repair damages of the early stages, normalize the internal environment, and restore the body's regulatory, repair and defense mechanisms.
- A specific therapy directed against the malignant tumor itself, such as surgery, radiation, chemo, hormone therapy, and cancer vaccines.
The non-specific basic therapy corresponds with the etiological path leading to the immuno-insufficiency and the cancer disease. It is modified to suit the individual patient's needs. It consists of:
- Elimination of causal factors, such as head foci of infection including dental, alveolar and tonsillar foci, malnutrition, abnormal intestinal flora, fields of neural disturbance, physical and chemical exogenous factors, endogenous and psychological factors.
- Desensitization of the organism which has been sensitized by causal factors by administration of autohemolysates and colloids.
- Treatment of secondary damages, metabolic disturbances, the impaired detoxification and the resulting defense weakness, by general measures, such as nutritional immunotherapy, hyperpyrexia or fever therapy, oxidative therapy, enzymatic therapy, phytotherapy, neural therapy and organ therapy (glandulars), as well as substitution/supplementation according to individual requirements.
The basic therapy is a long-term one without any toxic side effects and aims at the regeneration of the "big resistance," which comprises all the defense zones:
- The extracorporal zone consisting of the physiological obligatory microflora on mucous membranes which is responsible for the basic immunity of the organism.
- The epithelial zone consisting of all epithelial surfaces which performs defense, filtration, excretion and absorption.
- The lympho-reticulo defense zone which performs the important tasks of phagocytosis, antibody production and detoxification. On this zone, immunotherapy is mainly centered today.
- The reticulo-histiocytary zone which is the pluripotent mesenchyme embracing almost half of the body weight. It has been neglected in cancer research and treatment, although it is of great importance to all defense processes due to its various functions:
- the stemcell function;
- the transit function that intervenes between all nerves, organ cells, blood, lymphatic and intestinal cells;
- the homeostatic function;
- the defense, detoxification and storage functions.
These defense zones are successive, are closely interrelated and are under neuro-hormonal control.
The blockade of only one function of one of these zones, for example of the excretion, or even the blockade of the control system such as the autonomous nervous system may
contribute indirectly to a lowering of the defense potential. During treatment, it was repeatedly observed that by the elimination of head foci, or with a fever therapy a blockade of the neuro-hormonal functions was broken.
Dr. Issels' cases revealed that even in an advanced stage of malignant disease an immune reaction with complete tumor remission can be achieved.
Experience has shown that comprehensive immunotherapy opens up the following therapeutic possibilities:
- Treatment of cancer of all kinds and stages offering a considerable chance of recovery even for patients in advanced stages who have exhausted all standard treatments.
- Follow-up treatment to help prevent recurrence after standard cancer therapy through restoration of the patient's defense and repair functions (the World rate of recurrence after standard treatment is 50%).
- Non-toxic preventive treatment for patients at risk, and those with precancerous diseases.
- Preparatory treatment prior to surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy to reduce the risk of complications and in qualified cases, to render inoperable tumors operable.
- Treatment of chronic degenerative diseases which are untreatable by standard methods.
>>>
For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on Treatment and Costs please click here or call
1.888.447.7357.
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Quote by an editor for the American Cancer Society:
"Immunotherapy may be one of the only ways left to deal with cancer. We’ve gone as far as we can with chemotherapy," says oncologist Herman Kattlove, an editor for the American Cancer Society. With few new drugs coming out, he says, "chemotherapy is sort of a dead area..." With dendritic cells, "what convinced me is that we saw responses," says Dr. Ronald Levy (Stanford University). -- New Weapon in Cancer War. The Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2003: B1.
*** View the Excerpt from the Report on the Visit to the Issels Hospital by John Anderson, M.D., Professor of Medicine; Former Head and Chair of the Department of Medicine at King's College Hospital Medical School, University of London, England; Former Consultant to the World Health Organization on Oncology. ***
For ADDITIONAL INFORMATION on treatment and costs please click here.