Treatments & Prices
DENDRITIC CELL (DC) VACCINES
The development of vaccines against disease has been one of medicine's high-water marks. And now there is a new era in vaccinology which includes customized vaccines made from tumors and traditionally prepared cells that stimulate immune responses (Antigens).
Cancer is one of the areas where research groups associated with International BioCare Hospital (IBC) have seen the most potential for Dendritic Cell (DC's) manipulation and response. Science has shown that cells derived from the specialized white blood cells called Lymphocytes and Monocytes produce tentacle-like elongations which trap tumor cells and expose them to the immune system for destruction. They are called Dendritic cells (DC's). Many factors in modern life may affect the maturation process of DC's, rendering the body more susceptible to the growth, maturation and proliferation of tumor cells. Every individual's cancer is unique. Therefore, the most effective treatment is one customized to a particular disease's genetic configuration. By capturing the genetic information of tumors, we are able to use DC's to trigger a desired immune response.
The Challenge of Cancer:
Individual Cancer and Mutations.
Humans normally produce cancer cells throughout their lives. Malignant cells exposed to a healthy, active immune system will either be attacked and destroyed (Phagocytosis) or genetically programmed for self destruction (Apoptosis).
Genetic mutations and chromosomal abnormalities are commonly associated with human cancers. Unfortunately, since the genetic mutations leading to the development of cancer are often random events, every patient's tumor can contain a unique repertoire of antigens. The characteristic of human cancer requires each patient's immune system to recognize the specific antigens present.
It is in this area of unique genetic profile, and the genetic mutations of each cancer, that we capitalize our ability to make Autologous Dendritic cell (DC's) cancer vaccines. The RNA-loaded DC's vaccine is customized to the unique antigen repertoire of each patient's tumor, equipping the immune system to recognize and fight that particular disease. Because these vaccines include the entire genetic repertoire of the patient's tumor, they preclude the need to identify or isolate specific tumor antigens. Thus, with DC's vaccines, we can treat those patients without known tumor antigens or those from whom insufficient tumor material can be obtained, making them suitable for the vast majority of cancer patients.
Creating a Personalized Cancer Vaccine:The procedure involves drawing blood, from the patient. RNA-loaded DC's vaccines start with precursors of the patient's DC's which, when matured for the vaccine, are currently considered the most effective antigen-presenting cells within the immune system. We are then able to amplify tumor RNA from the patient, whether from the primary tumor site, distant metastatic sites, or from tumor cells present in the circulation, and transfect the patient's DC's with the patient's tumor RNA.
This process offers the ability for most cancer types at any stage of disease to be target opportunities for this cancer vaccine. At this point we have created a weapon which, when injected to the patient, will act as a cellular vaccine -a "smart bomb"- in modern defense parlance.
Unique Advantages:
- Dendritic cells transfected with RNA-encoding tumor antigens have been shown to stimulate potent immune cell responses equal or superior to other competing approaches.
- The vaccine is completely Autologous, potentially offering maximum safety with practically no side-effects.
- The vaccine targets the entire antigenic repertoire of the tumor including "private mutations" unique to the patient.
- Formulation requires no specialized manipulation maximizing patient participation (warm vial at room temperature, load syringe, inject).
- International BioCare Hospital is proud of its association with research centers from around the world which have brought to our patients this novel and rational treatment program which is so much in tune with the workings of the immune system.
MEDICAL HYPERTHERMIA
Hyperthermia, from the Greek words hyper, meaning high, and thermos,meaning temperature, can simply be defined as the elevation of the body temperature.
The physiological and biological mechanisms of hot-blooded mammals including humans demand that the body maintain a temperature that is normally above that of the external environment. However, it is important to note that the same functions can only successfully operate within very narrow temperature margins.
Our bodies have developed highly sophisticated heating and cooling systems to maintain a stable temperature within the narrow margins required regardless of environmental conditions. The process that attempts to maintain a steady internal thermic balance is called homeostasis.
There are only a few physiological conditions in which the thermic balance is changed: winter hibernation, egg-setting hens, and fever. Only fever is a physiological thermic resource in humans.
Fever acts as a defense mechanism against a number of processes, mostly related to either infections or the presence of abnormal proteins in the bloodstream called pyrogenes.
One of the most immediate physiological effects of fever is the acceleration of metabolic processes in general. Fever increases oxygen uptake and renders white blood cells more aggressive against bacteria, fungi or viruses. By making the cells more permeable, white blood cells are able to discharge into the bloodstream more aggressive substances against infectious organisms and increase their phagocytic (destructive) capability.
Fever within physiological limits can have many beneficial effects and will not produce any harm to normal cells that are able to cope with the higher metabolic demand. Human cells under specific metabolic conditions, such as cancer cells or infected cells, can be seriously challenged by thermic stress and may even be killed by it.
In summary, fever should be seen as an important physiological defense mechanism against disease.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Because of the empirical observation that the healing process is often preceded or accompanied by febrile episodes, the induction of thermic elevation has been attempted as a cure for thousands of years. In recent centuries there were reports of cures of cancer and cases of syphilis, which improved spontaneously after severe fever episodes that were caused by other infections.
Hippocrates routinely buried patients in the desert sand to elevate their core body temperature in an attempt to cure disease. In the middle 1800's a German physician, Dr. William Bush, noted spontaneous remission of sarcomatous tumors in patients who sustained prolonged fever episodes. Dr. W. C. Colley at the turn of the century injected cancer patients with different toxins to create artificial fever with good results, and Dr. Julius Wagner-Jauregg, an Austrian physician, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in
1927 for his successful work using malaria serum fever induction in patients plagued with severe complications of syphilis.
Hyperthermia represents a natural approach in combating disease since it involves inducing an exaggerated version of the body's own fever state.
Medical research found that induced hyperthermia has damaging effects on cancerous cells and infectious agents, but the technical limitation in elevating body temperature in an accurate, consistent, and reproducible way was a major obstacle to accomplishing this goal in humans despite the exciting results obtained in experimental observations.
Many infectious agents are sensitive to heat - particularly, but not restricted to, human immunodeficiency virus (AIDS), Hepatitis C virus and Lyme's disease which die due to heat shock before the normal human biology is altered.
Summarizing, we observe that the artificial elevation of body temperature either through normal physiology (fever) or by induction (medical hyperthermia) is an important healing factor in the management and treatment of several infectious processes and in the treatment of cancer. Medical hyperthermia can be applied in cases where normal fever response is not present because of the inability of the host to react to the illness. Of key importance, medical hyperthermia is carried out under controlled circumstances, times and parameters, making it a safe and accurate therapeutic tool.
METHODS
It wasn't until the 1970s when Dr. Parks, a cardio thoracic surgeon, reported success in using an extra corporeal technique to conduct more than one thousand whole body hyperthermia sessions for the treatment of cancer. During the following two decades many additional studies have been conducted and documented.
The use of external sources of heat creates uneven heat distribution in the body and burns are not uncommon. The extra corporeal technique involves circulating blood through a closed circuit device. Extra corporeal circulation with the help of a pump will carry the blood through a heat exchange unit.
Heat will be transferred to the blood and then recirculated into the body.
Utilizing the cardiovascular system for inducing hyperthermia from the "inside out" has the inherent advantage of creating an extremely uniform heat distribution throughout the body.
During the procedure the patient, under mild sedation, is continuously monitored. The information from thermometers in the body is fed back to the computer that controls the heat exchange unit. Because of this feedback mechanism the core body temperature can be consistently and reliably adjusted with an accuracy of one tenth of a degree.
In a routine treatment protocol temperature will be raised to a constant plateau that lasts 60 to 90 minutes at a temperature of 42° C (108°F).
Once the procedure is terminated the patient is transferred to his/her room, monitored and assisted through the following hours until the next day by specially trained nursing staff.
CRITERIA FOR ENTERING THE HYPERTHERMIA PROGRAM
The available medical information and experience have proven that medical Whole Body Hyperthermia has two major classes of patients as potential beneficiaries: cancer patients and those with chronic progressive viral infections, mainly HIV and Hepatitis C patients.
Cancer: There are many forms of cancer in which hyperthermia can play a major role and lead to a successful result: Hyperthermia by itself can have lethal effects against certain forms of cancer, and in an integrative protocol in which other nontoxic modalities are used this method is a major adjunctive therapy.
Cell death is a fundamental phenomenon of organisms occurring naturally as part of embryo development, in cell turnover in adults and as a result of injuries and pathological processes. There are two fundamental types of cell death - necrosis and apoptosis.
Necrosis involves damage to the cell by an external factor such as an injury, infectious agent, or immune reaction and in fact is the cell death phenomenon that we have commonly recognized and understood.
Apoptosis or programmed cell death is characterized by a degradation of the cell with shrinkage and fragmentation triggered from within. Genetic material in each cell has information codes that allow the cell to evaluate its own functions.
Hyperthermia is one of the major apoptosis inducers. This is why remission of cancer has been empirically seen after febrile episodes and more recently under induced temperature elevation.
The damage and changes produced by hyperthermia can be enhanced with the use of substances that can further the metabolic problems of cancer cells. Vitamin C, glucose, low-dose chemotherapy and low-dose radiation therapy have been pointed to as important adjuvants for a more effective therapeutic outcome.
It has been proven that in patients with resistance to chemotherapy, whole body hyperthermia can reinstitute drug efficacy. It is widely recognized and scientifically proven that whole body hyperthermia renders cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapy. This allows the use of milder forms of chemotherapy at lower doses and hence with fewer side effects and complications.
The same is true for radiation therapy: whole-body hyperthermia can substantially increase the possible damage to the cancer cell with the use of radiation.
And again it is possible to use fewer radiation sessions, with shorter times and lower doses in general, and still obtain good results with milder side effects.
Infectious disease: The rationale for the use of whole body hyperthermia begins with nature itself: Fever is the most immediate reaction to infection and at the same time one of the best known and earliest recognized defense mechanisms.
Under normal circumstances many infectious agents that were or still are important plagues of mankind can be damaged and destroyed at temperatures that are easily tolerated by normal human cells.
The causative agents of human immune deficiency syndrome virus, hepatitis C virus and Lyme's disease are among the most notorious infectious agents that due to their susceptibility to heat have become important targets of this method.
CLINICAL APPLICATION
Candidates for whole-body hyperthermia are carefully evaluated not only in terms of the main diagnosis but also their general, nutritional and overall condition and specifically their lung and heart functions.
Careful clinical diagnosis and staging of the disease with all possible elements to establish the status of the illness will provide necessary information to allow both patient and physician to evaluate changes in the disease in an objective and systematic manner. This is vital in the planning of adjunctive and future therapies that will bring about a successful outcome.
Radiological studies, such as CT scans, MRI, and other X-Ray images, are helpful elements with which to judge changes in the progression of a tumor.
Laboratory findings are also important factors in this assessment, particularly tumor markers in blood.
In the case of viral infections modern laboratory techniques can provide accurate information such as viral load quantification, antibody titer elevation and immunological reactions to the disease which provide important feedback to support or modify the treatment program.
Patients are placed in a hospital environment prior to the whole body hyperthermia procedure. Medical evaluation is started at once.
Before the actual procedure begins the anesthesiologist places the patient under mild sedation. Two other physicians carry out the procedure with the assistance and help of two nurses. The entire process takes approximately 4 to 6 hours.
After the procedure, the patient is under constant observation with a physician and a private duty nurse during the rest of the day and night. Other than the effects of sedation patients should not expect any discomfort and normally sleep over the following hours.
Laboratory tests may show some changes following hyperthermia, similar in nature to those observed after high fever. However, as in fever, these changes will return to normal in a few days and scientific studies prove they are inconsequential.
The day after the treatment most patients feel as they would feel after a normal febrile episode: tired, sleepy, and with mild aches and pains. All these symptoms are mild enough not to require any specific medication.
Thanks to careful surveillance and monitoring during the procedure patients rarely experience any discomfort. After a day, they normally resume the level of activity they had before the treatment.
It is highly recommended that any metabolic disturbances detected before hyperthermia be placed under control before this metabolism-challenging procedure is done.
Patients normally undergo integrative metabolic protocols before and after whole-body hyperthermia in order to enhance the positive aspects and results to be expected from such a comprehensive program.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
Hyperthermia has a long history of use in medicine in the treatment of a variety of diseases. Recently we have seen a resurgence of its importance as a potential treatment option in the management of chronic illness in the fields of oncology and infectious diseases.
Results from well formulated basic scientific studies and subsequent clinical studies have demonstrated that heat as a therapeutic option is a viable alternative. Heat therapy can be a tool which can be offered to many, but state-of-the-art technology, a professional staff well trained in these protocols and prudent patient screening must first be developed in order to implement a safe, nontoxic procedure.
Chronic viral infections are the other group of diseases in which treatment options at present are not only limited but unfortunately are accompanied by short-term results. The prevalence of AIDS and Hepatitis C in the current world population provides the challenge to seek effective alternatives to manage and arrest the progression of these potentially fatal conditions.
We cannot stress enough the importance of an accompanying protocol of detoxification, nourishment, immune augmentation and overall well being as the foundation for more sophisticated forms of therapy.
The final determination of the value of this therapy in a particular case can only be decided by the interaction of doctor and patient together with the appropriate analysis of clinical and laboratory findings.
ULTRAVIOLET BLOOD IRRADIATION PROGRAM
With over half a century as a valuable therapeutic weapon, extensive research reported in voluminous literature around the world describes the effects of ultraviolet blood irradiation on toxins, oxygenation and viricidal, bactericidal, and inflammatory conditions.
UV Blood Irradiation (UBI) was first introduced in the 1930's to combat the polio virus, but the advent of antibiotics and the Salk vaccine minimized its use. The new viral epidemics and failure to treat a number of conditions have brought back the possibility of alternative forms of therapy for these conditions. Chronic fatigue syndrome, hepatitis C, bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics and even such conditions as cancer have shown good results with the use of UBI.
UBI is the controlled application of UV irradiation to the blood within the accepted therapeutic UV band.
Applying ultraviolet rays directly to a patient's blood was originally conceived as a method of utilizing the bactericidal properties of the rays in the treatment of blood stream infections. Recent developments in the use of UV have led to a well controlled procedure that produces excellent results with virtually no side effects. Proper instrumentation and training provide clinical results in an inexpensive, fast and reliable procedure.
The method of applying UV rays to the blood began in 1925 with a system that allowed circulation of a minimum amount of blood out of the body through a device enabling the operator precise control. Experimental work with dogs infected with different highly infective bacteria proved very effective and free of side effects.
The polio epidemic provided a new opportunity for this method. It developed rapidly and extensively until immunizations eradicated it.
The method also flourished in the 1930's when people dying of untreatable infections responded to the therapy.
Clinical effects and applications:
The effect of UV radiation on the blood has been recognized and well researched around the world. Probably the best known applications of UV irradiation are in the treatment of infectious processes such as bacterial and viral infections. This is of considerable significance because of the presence of new bacterial groups that are resistant to classic antibiotic therapy. And there are viral epidemics that threaten younger groups of people for whom alternatives are few. To mention a few: chronic fatigue syndrome, hepatitis C, fibromyalgia, encephalitis, and herpes infections, all of which respond to this therapeutic program.
UV irradiation has an important detoxifying action that has proven very important in chronic degenerative diseases. Another important effect is in peripheral vasodilatation that increases blood flow in approximately 75% of patients. This effect, together with the increase of blood oxygen by about 20%, means that chronic circulatory conditions can be improved with minimal risk.
Since this procedure involves no kidney damage whatsoever, diabetic chronic circulatory problems and older people can easily be treated. Peripheral arteriosclerosis and even gangrene can be treated as well.
Criteria for entering the UV blood irradiation program:
Patients who should benefit clearly from this program are those with infectious processes resistant to antibiotic therapy, chronic viral conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, hepatitis C, and HIV related conditions. We also target this therapy for people with chronic inflammatory illnesses, chronic degenerative diseases and certain forms of cancer. Other targets are poor circulatory conditions where blood flow is poor and more aggressive techniques such as chelation or even vascular manipulation could imply a health risk to the patient. Older patients with vascular conditions and lower immune performance are also good candidates for this treatment.
Final considerations:
Ultraviolet irradiation of the blood is a valuable treatment tool that may prove to be an important alternative in the treatment and management of difficult chronic infectious, inflammatory processes and a number of degenerative conditions where higher oxygenation levels and better immune performance are required.
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE FOR THE TREATMENT OF CANCER
by Rodrigo Rodriguez MD, Medical Director
For the past quarter-century, International Bio-Care Hospital and Medical Center has been facing the ever- present question of whether to embark on so-called alternative or integrative therapies or follow mainstream, conven- tional or "orthodox" therapies.
In conventional oncology the concept of making the body less toxic, improving diet and nutrition and regulat- ing the immune system while treating the malignancy is still widely regarded as an unimportant aspect of medical care.The belief that medication alone can and should reverse disease and cure a patient without any consideration of the body’s own defense and recovery systems still dominates the medical mentality.
In standard oncology, there is no treatment which is not deleterious to the immune system or the overall "host defense" of the patient. In our concept the foundation of any form of therapy should be the restoration of the biological capacities of the host with specific emphasis on the immune system. Supported by the recovery of the patient's own defense mechanisms medical intervention in the form of specific therapies can then take place. Such an approach in due time hopefully will lead the patient to a better quality of life and improved longevity.This is the concept of Integrative Medicine. We emphatically believe that medical intervention should be comprehensive and successive; one part is not more important that the other and some therapies should be implemented only after certain goals have been reached.
For example, to give chemo- therapy to a patient who recently underwent surgery will only worsen his appetite, strength and wellbeing, reducing defense systems and the chances of successful outcome.
In standard radiotherapy pro- grams, statistics show that the higher the dose of radiation, the higher the tumoral response. However, the same statistics prove that higher doses mean less survival. This means that we must strike a balance between how aggressively we attack the tumor and how much support we give the body or at least how much assault our biological systems can endure.
Another important concept to understand is that a healthy body with an intact defense system does not de- velop cancer. So the mere fact of cancer presence denotes a failure, mutation, or biological change important enough to trigger such a diagnosis.
If we continue to follow the con- cept that the elimination of the tumor mass brings cure, we will continue to see the recurrence of cancer — which is one of the consistent outcomes of con- ventional oncology. The fact is that when a breast tumor, for example, is removed we are far from solving the problem. So the lump is not the disease — and that should be the conclusion.
In an integrative model we follow four major principles: restoring the best possible biological conditions through nutrition, rest and exercise; detoxifying the body; regulating the immune system; and using a wide array of modalities, "alternative" and conventional alike, against the malignant process itself.
We stress the concept of "bio- chemical individuality" - no two patients are treated identically. Since each patient is different and each patient’s response to cancer let alone its therapy is also different, we "individualize" our therapies.
The concept of biological indi- viduality is easy to grasp since we have individual genetic pools that are not iden- tical other than in identical twins, and we are raised under different circumstances, climates, diets, etc. We are exposed to different immunological challenges throughout our lives with unique biological experiences. We are exposed to different pollutants and toxins. Finally, our individual mental attitudes give stress a personal touch that impacts on each and every one of us.
Much attention in recent years has focused on dietary considerations in chronic disease — yet, just as there is no one-treatment-fits-all therapeutic approach to cancer, neither is there one-diet-fits-all, and we must be as at- tentive to individuality in diet as we are to individuality in therapy.
In critical cancer patients, inten- sive crisis nutrition can only be attained by intravenous feeding that will deliver to the blood all the critically necessary nutritional elements in an immediate and efficient way. It is easy to understand that patients with cancer are malnourished by lack of appetite, depression and medical interventions such as surgery, chemo- therapy and poor digestion.
The mere satisfaction of nutritional needs represents a major step toward well-being and the recovery of biological capacities.
This is a concept well supported by research at major medical schools. Intravenous nutrition rapidly improves white blood cell (WBC) performance allowing restoration and enhanced activity of a key element in fighting cancer: cellular immune performance. Supplementation by mouth is also a common method of managing less critical cases.
Detoxification is a major tool if the body is to be able to function properly. Each function of the body is regulated by our genetic information system through specific enzymes. A toxin is defined as a substance that impairs or blocks enzyme performance.
It is imperative to rid as many foreign and toxic substances from the system as possible, a problem of enormous significance in cancer.
To detoxify the body we use, among other things, specialized diets, juice fasting, coffee enemas, chelating agents, replacement of "friendly bacteria" and any other approach or substance required. Coffee enemas, often regarded as controversial yet of comparatively ancient pedigree even in Western medicine, help render the small intestine alkaline, detoxify the liver and help restore bowel regularity.
Of no less importance is the careful exploration of the body to look for sources of toxic debris, organic or inorganic. Infectious focci, dental health and removal of mercury amalgams are all of primary importance.
Toxic oxygen breakdown prod- ucts —"free radicals"— have to be neutralized or blocked, a process which can largely be carried out with nutrients known to have free radical-blocking —that is, antioxidant— activity.
Our approach is to utilize a baseline special blood test to measure oxidative/antioxidant activity in the blood. Anti- oxidant substances in general use are
SOD (superoxide dismutase), catalase, glutathione, butyrate, selenium, NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) and vitamins A, C and E, Beta Carotene, to mention only the more prominent from a growing list. The controversial compound laetrile is, among other things, an antioxidant.
Immune regulation involves a complex process (by some definitions there are several immune systems) whereby internal defense mechanisms are made aware of the presence of al- tered cells or tumors which are growing wildly in the body. Malignant processes may isolate themselves by building a protein sheath around themselves or, as Nordenstrom proposed, by creating an electrical field, making them unrecognizable to the immune system, which otherwise would attack them. We must overcome this blockage by the administration of proteolytic enzymes as a first-rank weapon, or by electrical repolarization of the tumor.
Live cell or cellular therapy (be- ing slowly accepted in orthodox circles as "fetal cell transplantation therapy" after being cold-shouldered for years) is a highly effective approach to long-term immune regulation. It consists of intramuscular or subdermal injections of cellular suspen- sions of animal embryonic or other birth- related tissue. Since these kinds of suspensions are obtained from embryos other birth-related tissues in early stages of pregnancy, they provoke no allergic responses. The varied positive effects of such injections have a start-up period of several weeks and an endurance of up to six months. Live cell injections have a hormone balancing effect on the body in general, a balancing effect on immunity and some specific anticancer activity.The direct assault on cancer is carried out not only with such time- tested substances as laetrile (amygdalin, “Vitamin B17”), but also with a growing number of nutrients and herbal-derived compounds, combinations and extracts which have solid research behind them. New alkaloids are now available in combinations that can induce the death of cancer cells while protecting immune cells, thus creating a brighter horizon for the use of herb extracts in the treatment of cancer.
These essentially nontoxic anti- cancer compounds, together with a total metabolic program of dietary change, detoxification and immune system regulation, provide us with effective therapies not only virtually free of unpleasant side effects but accompanied by higher en- ergy levels, better appetite and overall improved biological performance.
Of course, we can and do utilize substances from the orthodox armamentarium when feasible and practical. Ongoing research has shown that a nutritionally based metabolic program actually enhances the effects of chemotherapy and radiation should either of these modalities be called for.
Two relatively new therapies requiring individual attention and which have shown great promise at our hospi- tal are "whole body hyperthermia" and "autologous dendritic cells" Results of these techniques have been particularly heartening in advanced cancer cases where the extension or severity of the case needs intensive, more aggressive protocols. "Whole body hyperthermia" con- sists of heating the patient's body by circulating blood through a heat-exchange device. This is a modern expression of the ancient observation that cancer cells cannot stand high temperatures to which normal cells are otherwise insensitive. High heat sets off a cascade of intracellular events in cancer cells leading to "apoptosis" or "programmed cell death." During this procedure the patient is se- dated in order to tolerate the increased heat and allowed a recovery period rang- ing from a few hours to five days.
IBC is also pioneering the use of "autologous" — meaning "made from self" vaccines against the cancer pro- cess, particularly those made from the recently discovered structures called "dendritic" cells (DCs). DC's are known to entrap tumor cells and expose them to a patient's immune system for destruction. By lenghtening and enhancing tumor control through human immune/ defense systems while remaining com- pletely free of side effects over long peri- ods of use, this is the most nature-similar way of controlling malignant growths.
It has been learned that DCs —elongated appendages in certain cells — can actually pick up normal cells and migrate with them to Iymph nodes where they can be exposed to a high concentration of immune system cells. DCs can stimulate a responsein which the immune system increases the activity of T-cells which help fight cancer and viruses.
The procedure involves drawing from the patient blood containing mature and immature DCs and tumor cells. A biochemist induces the maturation and activation of DCs in the presence of pro- teins derived from the patient's tumor.
At this point a weapon has been created which administered to the pa- tient, will act as a cellular vaccine - a "smart bomb" - which will actively seek out, entrap and expose to the immune system tumor cells developed at every stage of malignancy.
The vaccine, being non-toxic, sterile and customized from the patient's own blood, is thus a safe and effective form of therapy.
International research and knowledge exchanges provide informa- tion and resources from around the world and access to new modalities, products and experiences that enrich and widen the expectation of good results in the hard battle against cancer.
Our anticancer program of "slow drip" infusions, direct injections, oral and sublingual nutrients, specialized diet and detoxification— normally takes three weeks, a period we call "the crisis phase".
The three-week segment is de- signed to interfere with at least one full cycle of malignant-cell replication — a process which hopefully will remove the patient from the "crisis" stage.
After the initial three-week in- tensive-therapy phase, the patient is provided with a program of protocols and dietary changes to be followed at home.
The arguments between "alter- native" and "orthodox" medicine should vanish with the understanding that meta- bolic illnesses are part of a multifactorial and complex scenario.
Real medicine is unitarian - it addresses the health and well being of whole individuals. There are no such things as different medicines or even medical specialties; these are man-made concepts which help to understand how the body works in health and disease. In reality any attempt to treat only a part of a patient will encounter a far less than desired outcome.
Every effort to integrate the dif- fering avenues of medicine, "alternative" or "conventional", old and new, East or West, homeopathic or allopathic, etc., with the well-being and respect for our patients, needs in mind can only lead to better, more substantial and longer-last- ing results.
REJUVENATION & ANTIAGING PROGRAM AT IBC HOSPITAL
Now that the conquest of most infectious diseases and common traumata has expanded our expectations concerning life itself, we face the inexorable fact of aging-and, of equal or greater importance- the many aging-related diseases with their heavy baggage of metabolic dysfunctions and disabilities.
We have both the capability and the responsibility of aging productively because the tools to do so are at hand - and a system now in place at International BioCare Hospital and Medical Center (IBC) can provide that comprehensive startup for a full, vigorous and healthy longevity the beginning of pleasant surprises as you face what so many call "the senior years."
We call our program the BioCare System. It is real, it is now, and it is effective By itself, aging is a genetically programmed event: we can in fact now predict an individual's lifespan. Our genetic DNA is already working like a pre-set clock for all stages of life: it puts in play all the physiological and biochemical mechanisms needed for growth, sexual maturity and the harmonic interactions of all parts of our body.
The same is true, unhappily, for the flip side-a pattern of decay of biological processes characterized by the shutting down of certain hormones, diminished functions in many areas such as the gastrointestinal tract, muscle tone, tissue elasticity, etc., which in their totality are responsible for the stage called "senescence", which leads to death.
In humans there is the distinct possibility of a general lifespan reaching or exceeding 100 years. Statistical information indicates that individuals whose lives have gone on without significant interference can easily achieve that goal, and of course during the recently concluded century numerous cases of individuals living well beyond l20 years were reported.
Dramatic anti-aging effects, we know now so well, come from the unforeseeable occurrence of traumatic accidents and social distress as well as from pathogenic infectious exposures, toxic environmental factors, the general abuse of foods (through over consumption of the wrong kinds as well as the acute chemicalization of the food supply), alcohol, tobacco and other habits of social gratification including lack of physical exercise and altered sleep patterns- all elements of the hurried "modern" lifestyle.
With the above in mind we should direct our attention to the possible ways and means of delaying, arresting or even reversing the course of aging's deleterious effects. This usually means taking the necessary steps to live longer without undergoing the assault of age-related diseases and dysfunctions , particularly those which have their origin in the abnormal behavior of the immune system, genetic mutations, and the cancer, heart and vascular diseases which have sprung from them all.
We limit our scope here to the possible and practical ways that are even now within our reach to attain longer, more productive lives. These methods can in fact restore to optimal function those levels of performance that we thought we had to leave behind some time ago (rejuvenation) and delay or completely thwart the appearance of certain diseases and their often tragic consequences (anti-aging medicine.)
A rational approach to rejuvenation and anti-aging includes a comprehensive program of detoxification, a survey and review of nutritional needs and their management (understanding of real food-related needs with more logical and complete dietary programs), avoidance of environmental and personal pollutants, careful screening and management of infectious and parasitical infestations -and, most importantly, a re-arrangement of our lifestyle priorities in order to create the wholesome internal and environmental milieu in which our living organism can successfully thrive.
If we did for ourselves what we tend to do for our pets, our house plants and even our automobiles, we would begin to understand the logistics of the healthy body we all want at any age. This is the core of the BioCare System.
This means that, by learning the do's and don'ts of proper environment and proper nutrition, and by investing what amounts to a small amount of our time and our money, we can soon be on the trail of our most valuable possession: ever-lasting good health.
In our well-orchestrated 10-day in-house program, where all such needs and details are taken into consideration, there is a jump-start for a successful, long-term outcome. The BioCare System is just such a carefully managed jump-start.
The essence of the program is intensive and active detoxification, diagnosis and treatment (if necessary) of infectious elements, physical examination, a battery of state-of-the-art blood tests and dental examination to detect such internal pollutants as mercury, a key contributor to many of today's pathological disasters. We include a full review of lifestyles, rest and sleep patterns, and test for stress levels.
Research has made it clear that the restricted calorie diet (RCD) can be a major contributor to lifespan expansion in mammals (that's us), which only underscores what we have long been doing at IBC-developing rational food intake programs. It is also exciting to know that limited periods of restricted dieting can balance hormonal functions whose effects can continue even after normal eating habits have resumed.
All of this strengthens the age-old observation that fasting is an excellent element in helping achieve the goal of healthful longevity. And with proper stress management organized fasting can actually be enjoyable, particularly as feelings of enhanced energy and well-being start being noticed.
The elimination of excess water and sodium from the body has immediate effects-improved blood flow, oxygenation of blood, improved clearance of toxic substances by the kidneys, improved oxygenation of tissues for more efficient removal of wastes from distant parts of the body, a cascade which translates into better performance levels across the board.
We increasingly know how vital a healthy, well functioning hormonal or endocrine system is, since in essence it impacts on all other aspects of physiology.
The core of the system is the HPA, or hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, with its constellation of growth, energy and sexual functions.
In recent times, growing emphasis has been placed on the earlier overlooked HGH, or human growth hormone, a substance released by the pituitary gland and once thought to be non-existent by adulthood. HGH administration is a powerful anti-aging technique carrying virtually no side effects.
Recent research has also focused on the importance of the functions of the thymus and pineal glands, once considered mysterious organs of unknown value. We now know that the harmonious regulation of the hormonal and immune systems depends to a great extent on thymus functions, and that the hormone melatonin plays a vital role in the aging process. The balancing, support and supplementation of these glands can provide spectacular results.
The century-old technique called live cell therapy (LCT) deserves a chapter by itself so that its amazing properties as rejuvenator and balancer of hormonal and immunological functions may be adequately understood. LCT can improve and reprogram such diverse organs and tissues as the heart, liver, muscle, brain and eyes. This long-misunderstood therapy is of vital importance in a sound program of rejuvenation and anti-aging and has lasting effects.
Nutritional and dietary supplement programs-where quality and source of product have been carefully monitored-are of considerable importance in an overall effort. They have the advantage of easy compliance and help us enjoy both food and life.
Vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, essential fatty acids, amino acids, antioxidants and other nutrients have often been removed from our "civilized" food chain by the effects of modern agricultural methods and food processing. Hence, their adequate supplementation in what often is a nutrient-depleted body will greatly enhance the chance for a successful, long life, lived to its maximum potential.
Even the most disastrous of the modern degenerative conditions, such as cancer and vascular/heart/circulatory diseases, in which our genetic backgrounds may be either a help or a hindrance, can be decisively overcome when personal determination drives the healing process.
We invite you to consider that time affects us all and that the difference between graceful and productive older years or a period of slow decay and deterioration is within our reach- it is truly up to us. I have always thought that the axiom that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is a landmark concept in health management and is certainly wiser and more cost-effective than figuring out how to pay for treatment.
Prevention is now both programmable and attainable. Please join with us and the BioCare System as you chart a new course for health, rejuvenation and effective anti-aging.
A GUIDE TO CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME
In the 1980s patients and doctors alike faced a completely new problem. All of a sudden and without any explanation young people who in other times would have been considered strong, healthy and very productive became ill. The new illness did not follow a specific pattern but rather was a number of symptoms that altogether did not seem to make much sense --at least to the eyes of physicians at that time.
Patients were also disoriented. Young professionals at the top of their careers fell ill and became tired, depressed, lost interest in all activity and gradually lost their jobs, social status and even family lives. Worse, medical professionals failed to diagnose the problem and usual laboratory tests came back consistently normal.
All this, along with a wide variety of neurological signs, caused physicians to take the easy way out: "The problem is in your mind, you will get over it; you need a vacation and if all this fails look for psychological help and take Prozac", they said.
What nobody seemed to understand at the time was that we were facing a new entity, a number of illnesses somehow connected with the failure of the immune system -- a new dysregulation of this very important defense mechanism.
With the first cases at our hospital, doctors immediately noticed that young, supposedly active people were undergoing months if not years of partial disabilities, had lost their goals in life and evinced a group of signs and symptoms never before seen together in this population group.
The medical team decided that we were facing a new syndrome of great significance to which laboratory tests were oblivious.
The AIDS epidemic at the same time had brought about significant interest in viral diseases and AIDS itself and herpes became important diagnoses at the time. At the same time, this "new kid on the block" seemed to be related to a widespread new and apparently unimportant virus: Epstein Barr. One of the clinical advantages about this new virus was the fact that we already had available sophisticated tests to discover its present level of activity and to determine whether we were facing a new or old problem.
The new interest in viral testing rapidly brought to light for our physicians the fact that the new syndrome consistently included an elevation of EBV titers. By then the term Chronic Fatigue Syndrome had been coined and has remained in place probably because it so accurately describes one of the most important factors of this illness: periods of extreme fatigue.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is the official name given by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a multifactorial disorder that in the USA was not recognized until 1988.
CFS has had several names: Epstein Barr Virus, Yuppie Flu, Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) and in many places Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
Its signs and symptoms can be confused with such related conditions as mononucleosis, thyroid dysfunction, chemical sensitivities, autoimmune diseases and other viral conditions.
This dysfunction seems to be mainly associated with several viruses. Among the more common are those within the herpes family (EBV and HHV-6) and less commonly the Enteroviruses and Retroviruses, but there may be other infectious agents at work as well, including mycoplasmas.
CLINICAL SYMPTOMS
The most important complaint of the CFS sufferer is energy loss, translated into a fatigue that does not improve with rest, vacation, or entertainment. This fatigue lingers for long periods of time, and worsens with time.
Along with the fatigue other symptoms -- mostly from the neurological sphere occur: insomnia, depression, mood shifts, emotional instability and personality changes are frequent symptoms; unexplained sadness or guilt or feelings of worthlessness and suicidal thoughts are not uncommon.
Other symptoms reflecting a chronic, viral condition are frequently present such as weakness, malaise, joint pains, recurrent headaches, stomaches, sore throat, low-grade fever, swollen glands, night sweats, cough and cold symptoms.
These symptoms, and others, can occur in any combination and at any intensity. For physicians the world over, the protean span of signs and symptoms seen in apparently healthy young people and with no apparent cause made it frustratingly difficult to come up with a single diagnosis.
Physicians were often faced with such a myriad of disturbances -- digestive problems ranging from belching to flatulence to diarrhea or constipation, together with loss of appetite, and allergy/sensitivity reactions which might involve the skin, eyes, or other organs and tissues -- that they could not grasp the idea that they were dealing with a single syndrome.
The easy way out was often -as noted- to blame it all on the patient's mental state, write him a prescription for an antidepressant or sedative, and recommend psychological counseling.
Probably one of the best diagnostic clues for the physician is that CFS patients feel like they are not themselves. They feel disoriented, do not understand what is going on and desperately seek an answer.
ORIGIN
Our research suggests that CFS has multiple causes and that either new or old reactivated viruses or mycoplasmas may be playing roles as catalysts to a preexisting condition of general immune impairment, elements of which are often related to prior or ongoing abuse of steroids, prior or ongoing abuse of antibiotics (from medications or food), prior or ongoing abuse of recreational drugs, elevated numbers of mercury amalgam fillings and/or root canals in the mouth, continual overexposure to industrial chemicals and/or herbicides/pesticides, fluoridated water, immunizations/vaccinations, continual exposure to low-level electromagnetic emissions, poor responses to anesthesia or incompatible prosthetics, elements of the standard Western diet, prior or ongoing unresolved bacterial or viral infections, prior or ongoing parasitical infestation and possible genetic predispositions.
One critically important fact is that immune impairment can frequently cross-react with common viruses. In many cases an antibody intended to attack a foreign protein may in turn react against a normal component of the body, hence creating an autoimmune-like response.
For this reason autoimmune symptoms and abnormal allergic reactions are frequently present. The former explain many of the neurological, muscular and degenerative symptomata; the later explain the multiple allergies, even the universal reactor syndrome, and many of the digestive problems our doctors encounter.
LABORATORY
Early in the history of this syndrome it was discovered that standard laboratory tests did not provide any diagnostic evidence. This was a major setback that caused physicians to be unaware of an abnormal process going on. Due to the experience of alternative physicians in dealing with viral, fungal and yeast infections, it became clear that one of the major parameters observable in CFS was the level of Epstein Barr virus (EBV) titers that became reactivated.
Epstein Barr virus is a relatively widespread virus that is acquired early in life and, due to the immune system, becomes dormant for the rest of a healthy individual's life.
When the immune system undergoes dysfunctional conditions, the normally dormant Epstein Barr virus can be reactivated, elevating the amount of antibodies the body produces against it. The same reactivation occurs with other viruses such as human herpes-6 virus (HHV-6). It is unclear whether these are actual causative agents or simply the effects of an immune dysfunction.
Whatever, the laboratory assessment of antibodies to them reflects the ongoing immune dysfunction, are factors suggestive of diagnosis, and may be used to monitor progression or improvement.
Another important tool that is not only consistent with the syndrome and for the same reason an important diagnostic tool, but also is probably the most important piece of evidence that convinced orthodox medicine that CFS is a real disease, is the Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT) of the brain. This technologically advanced test conclusively demonstrates dysfunctional brain activity that improves as treatment is provided. For this reason it is a major monitoring test for the CFS patient.
TREATMENT CONSIDERATIONS
Because of International Bio Care Hospital's prior history in the development of individualized, integrative metabolic protocols, its approach to Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome was not long in coming and it is based on the following concepts:
- The illness probably has an immunological imbalance in which some of the following can play a role, in no particular category of importance:
- Over-administration of antibiotics, steroids, immunizations, mercury amalgam fillings; overconsumption of refined carbohydrates, chemical additives; environmental chemicals including cigarette smoke; fluoridated water; agricultural chemicals; hormonal manipulation; exposure to low level electromagnetic frequencies; and, of considerable importance, mental stress.
With these considerations in mind, the treatment is based on the following concepts:
Detoxification is a primary feature of any therapy and in the case of CFS the previous history of exposure to chemicals, antibiotics, steroids etc. makes detoxification one of the key factors in its successful treatment. For the same reason avoidance of toxins becomes a major issue. Tobacco smoke, alcohol, prescription and recreational drugs should be a major target of the life-style manipulation elements in CFS management.
Dietary manipulation, together with detoxification, is the foundation of any treatment intended to restore and balance immune function. The proper use of diet can never be overlooked. Food is not only the basis of energy and building materials but is also the source of detoxification elements, immune substances and balanced intestinal flora -- all of which becomes the foundation of immune performance and equilibrium. A healthy body and immune competent system are unobtainable under poor nutritional conditions.
Since opportunistic infections seem to be the most apparent triggers in many of the symptoms, the treatment of these conditions becomes a priority: EBV, HHV-6, mycoplamas, yeasts, and candida are the most frequent and visible infectious elements in this syndrome. Oxidative therapies are the best choice for the treatment of these conditions. BI-OX, a powerful oxidative agent, has become the treatment of choice for them. BI-OX is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial oxidative agent which attacks all cell wall-deficient structures -- virtually all viruses, yeast/fungal species, various bacteria and mycoplasma.
Ozone therapy has also been very powerful in the treatment of these problems, together with the irradiation of blood with ultraviolet (UV) light. Ultraviolet irradiation has a well-documented antimicrobial effect.
An integrative approach utilizes all forms of attack against a broad spectrum of microbes, yeasts and viral infestations so strongly present in immune disturbances in general and CFS in particular.
Integrative physicians stress that the origin of the illness is within the immune dysfunction of the host, or patient -- and that whatever relief that may result from an attack on opportunistic infections will be lost if the patient's immunological integrity is not restored.
Hence, immune restoration is the major long-term objective for the CFS patient. The attempt to regulate immune function without detoxification, dietary management and relief from pathogenic infestations will fail. Since mental stress is increasingly and demonstrably seen to be playing an important role in immune regulation it must also be addressed if the patient is to have lasting results and full recovery.
Recent research reveals that most immunologically disturbed patients are neither classically immune depressed nor autoimmune-stimulated; rather , they are suffering the highs and lows of dysregulation of the various elements of what is called the immune system.
Modern biochemical research also has made it clear that a vast range of nutriments and supplements -- vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, essential and nonessential fatty acids, phytochemicals, herbs-- are of positive benefit in either specific or nonspecific immune regulation. Many nutritional elements classed as antioxidants or free-radical scavengers also exert a balancing effect on immunity.
Fetal cell extracts (live cell therapy) or their derivatives have been widely used to balance the immune system. Beginning in the 1930's the late Paul Niehans MD in Switzerland began using animal fetal tissue to produce overall health benefits in chronically ill and older patients.
Modern cell-extraction and preservation techniques have helped make live cell treatments highly successful in immune system augmentation. The availability of such tissue-specific extracts such as those from the thymus gland is also of great help in the long-term management of CFS. Research continues in these areas and underscores the importance of integrative and individualized treatments -- an approach which continues to lengthen our list of successfully managed cases.
EXPECTED OUTCOME
A multifactorial program containing elements of the above tailored for the individual case can expect to achieve dramatic decreases in pathological symptoms in a short period of time.
However, reduction in symptoms is not the cure of a multifaceted syndrome of so many parts. Restoration of immune and endocrine balance is a long-term challenge and can only be achieved through adherence to a program of proper diet, nutrition, supplementation and proper lifestyle.
Our experience with CFS and related disorders is that the great majority of patients show immediate short-term improvement; smaller numbers improve, relapse and improve again. CFS remains the most unpredictable and highly individualized of chronic conditions.
The successful treatment of this condition demands from the patient a commitment to intensive treatments, many hospital stays followed by an at-home program accompanied by discipline and a commitment to create a new lifestyle and improved health. The do-it-yourself approach is usually wasteful, expensive, frustrating and unsuccessful.
At the present time, the innovative, integrative, individualized program synthesized here is securing the best results, and is optimistically aimed at greater success in the future against an awesome foe which has mostly baffled standard medicine.
The final determination of the value of this form of treatment in any particular case will be the interaction of doctor and patient and correct evaluation of patient clinical and laboratory
Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis and related conditions
An important area of degenerative disease is one in which the defense or immune system, far from being dormant or acting too slowly, manifests an increased reactivity while at the same time ignoring the normal target of its action ("non-self") and instead turns on the self-components of our own bodies.
The result is autoimmune disase.
The immune system may be likened to a watchdog; a key virtue of the animal is its ability to distinguish familiar residents from intruders. The watchdog that is dozing during a burglary is of no benefit to its master. Likewise, a dog so vicious that it does not distinguish be- tween resident and visitor but may attack both is an equal problem. This is what happens in immune dysregulation.
Our immune systems develop from the earliest infancy: as soon as we are born there are literally thousands of "immunological challenges" we face externally and even internally —we breathe, eat or come in contact with them in many ways through different organs or tissues. That is, from the point of birth we are under attack.
In the first weeks to months following birth we are more or less protected through the substances called antibodies passed onto us from our mother's milk and which teach our developing immune systems to distinguish self from non-self. These substances even allow certain microbes to live and thrive in certain organs because they are useful, but others will be attacked and expelled from the body.
So our immune system will grow up with us, serving as a first line of defense against disease. But various factors can disrupt the normal maturation process of that system: excessive use of antibiotics at an early age, replacement of mother's milk by "formula" milk, the lack of or deficiency in certain vital nutrients such as essential fatty acids (EFAs), or the use of drugs and medications which may have a short-term benefit but a long- term negative effect on the system.
All these elements may play a role in the development of autoimmune and "atopic" diseases.
From asthma to multiple sclerosis, from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis, immune diseases share in common a high reactivity of the immune system with a self target.
While medicine in general has always tried to curb the activity of the immune system in general with the use of so-called immune suppressor drugs, we believe that the treatment should be directed toward helping the immune system respond in a more normal way and to try to direct its activity against non-self components.
While IBC is not claiming "cure" in MS — or in rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome, lupus and other autoimmune conditions in which "self" attacks "self" and all of which have responded favorably to IBC's treatments — its developing track record speaks for itself:
IBC protocols have been utilized, often with significant results, in autoimmune disease in general and multiple sclerosis (MS) in particular, with considerable experience developed in the latter condition. In fact, over the years patients who were unable to walk due to the deleterious effects of MS have been able to regain that function.
Lives are lengthened, symptoms are mitigated, suffering declines or ceases, organ function is renewed.
In all autoimmune disorders, efforts must be made to regulate a dysregulated immune system as well as restoring vitality to affected organs and tissues.
Our treatment protocol for MS is designed with various factors in mind:
The possible origins of the disease, the complications and problems the disease may produce, and specific responses, such as the myelin sheath in MS and the joints in rheumathoid arthritis. Each autoimmune disease normally has its own most affected tissue or organ. Even though the causes of degenerative disease are obscure, we consider that among the more important ones are the immune system dysregulations in which one's own antibodies are activated against various parts of the body, such as the myelin sheath in MS or the collagen system. Indeed, since collagen is an integral part of the connective tissue which is the matrix which supports virtually every cell in the body- we can say that it is universally located in the body collagen disease may produce symptoms in virtually every organ in the body - from the skin to the liver to the kidneys.
Another theory of the origin of autoimmune disease is that the antibody response is triggered by viruses and that in the presence of an altered immune system antibodies target tissues in what are called "cross reactions". With the increasing evidence that viruses and/or mycoplasmas may be "triggers" in these conditions, oxidative agents can play essential roles in therapy since they attack both.
In our protocols we are interested in even subclinical infections as in such commonplace problems as infected teeth and sinuses. Dysfunctional immune systems also allow the proliferation of Candida yeast and other microbial infestations.
Once a diagnosis is in, oxidative therapies become key players since antibiotic therapy is counter-indicated. One of the most effective of these agents, chlorine dioxide, can both dismantle the viral or mycoplasmic "trigger" and also relieve the stress that infectious diseases can produce on an already overwhelmed immune system. Ozone, hyperbaric oxygenation and other oxidative substances may also help in this process.
Our treatment program includes providing alternative targets. For example, certain snake venom derivatives deflect antibodies from normal tissue. Several of these natural antigens pack such a powerful punch that they can shock and jumpstart the immune system without any side effects to the host. Bee venom has also been positively used with the same rationale in mind.
The use of live cell therapy (LCT) helps reprogram the behavior of the immune system to avoid the deranged response which produces the antibodies. Since our main objective is to restore the health of the immune system, any effort to restore its normal reactivity and its ability to differentiate self from non-self becomes critical in obtaining a healthier and long-lasting result.
Live cell therapy also helps repair damaged neurological cells, joints, or other organs affected so that symptoms are first slowed and later reversed.
Optimal nutrition is provided as an important part of the protocol. A key part in reversing the symptoms and restoring the normal functioning of the immune system is provided by essential nutrients that are systematically depleted in the so-called "western diet". With healthful eating in mind as a central part of the therapy program we start our patients on an intravenous protocol that will fill the gap in the shortest time possible.
Daily intravenous nourishment provides the missing or deficient minerals, vitamins, co-factors and essential nutrients. A gluten-free diet is highly recommended and a vegetarian-oriented diet rich in essential fatty acids, particularly omega- 3 fatty acids and vegetable protein and important phytochemicals such as lignans, are the foundation on which long-term supplementation and lifestyle changes will provide healthy living.
The treatment program is ac- companied by a tailored detoxification regimen and a special dietary program to help the body achieve peak performance in fighting the disease while repairing damage.
We cannot stress enough the importance of a serious comprehensive in-house treatment program that can be- gin changing the course of degenerative disease. Our program that extends from 10 days to 2 weeks typically addresses the different areas discussed in order to restore normal responses and behavior in the immune system as well as heal damaged tissue.
Live Cell Therapy
by Micheal L. Culbert ScD
Since the beginning of mankind healing disease has been a permanent concern. The renovation of life and healing have been constant inspirations for research.
In this pursuit Paracelsus, a physician in the sixteenth century, issued a thesis that said that heart heals heart, lung heals lung, liver cures liver and in general like heals like.
The advent of the 20th century brought biological and medical knowledge never before achieved and early in the century this knowledge was put to work by a dedicated and ever- growing group of physicians mainly in central Europe who were achieving impressive results in an expanding array of pathological conditions and metabolic challenges. Their research had led them to the use of suspensions of fetal animal cells that were trans- planted or injected in the muscles orsubcutaneous tissues of patients. This new form of therapy was called "live cell therapy" or, simply, LCT.
It is appropriate to know that whatever name the therapy was given, this therapeutic approach rapidly grew in prestige mainly for a single reason: good results. Even when viewed by American orthodox medicine, sound research proves excel- lent results obtained by this modality. As early as 1970, Trainin and
Small showed that an extract of calf thymus conserved immunocompetence on lymphoid cells in mice --an outcome that any experienced live cell therapist could have expected. In 1981, Osband et al. detailed how ten to seventeen children treated for the immunosuppressive condition called histiocytosis-X underwent complete remissions.
After being treated with daily intramucular injections of thymus extract from 5 day old calves. This report appeared in one of the most prestigious periodicals of the United States. In the 1990's US research showed human birth related tissues to be useful in muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease.
These treatments came under the name of "fetal cell tissue transplantation therapy".
Until the advent of radioactive tracers, live cell therapists could only rely on empirical evidence to prove they were getting results.
Modern research which strongly supports the empirical evidence has come from such ground-breaking research as that of Schmid and Lettre of the University of
Heidelberg and Prof. A. Kment, University of Vienna. Dr. Schmid showed in animal tests that immediately following the injection of cell therapy cellular groups and tissues from donor animals are transported in the host's blood to counterpart organs and tissues. Lettre used material tagged with radioactive isotopes --and a Geiger counter-- to prove that cellular material did in fact reach the target organs and tissues. Weiss at Rockefeller Institute conducted experiments which demonstrated the "self-organization" capacity of cells so that information-containing masses of cells become identifiable as tissues --that is, heart cells link to each other to form rhythmically contracting tissue.
Even before the decade of the 1980s, live cell therapists had demonstrated the efficiency of their therapeutic modality in the following diseases, conditions and challenges: Neuromuscular disorders, including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy as well as behavioral disorders.
Genetic and hereditary disorders including mental retardation, Down Syndrome, bone and cartilage abnormalities, and congenital dysplasias also fell within the live cell therapy therapeutic range.
Chronic dermatological disorders, chronic lung disease, heart disease (especially arrhythmia), liver cirrhosis, allergies and autoimmune diseases have all been treated successfully for years with live cell therapy.
And of great importance is the use of live cell therapy as the perfect tool to regenerate and strengthen biological functions that are diminished or dam- aged by age, abuse, neglect or simply hereditary conditions. For these reasons live cell therapy has been the perfect approach to rejuvenation.
In the early 1980's the Niehans system came to Mexico and with the scientific and technological expertise of IBC Hospital & Medical Center, LCT was moved into a more comprehensive and scientifically sound setting.
In whatever modality live cell therapy is used, the treatments are basically aimed at a combination of regeneration, endocrinological stabilization (hormonal harmonizing) and in general helping to place body chemistry in balance without affecting or damaging normal function.
It is important to note that in live cell therapy it is unlikely that there will be an overdose state --that is, there is no such thing as, for example, pushing a patient into hyperthyroidism through cellular treatments. This is because the function of the cellular material is to "harmonize" or "balance".
Thyroid cellular tissue, then, will "harmonize" an under- functioning or over-functioning thyroid.
While as many as 40 kinds of glandular or tissue cellular suspensions are normally available for live cell therapy, it is rare to give more than seven in one day for a single course of treatment. The selection and combination of cells is part of the science and art of live cell therapy.
The cellular suspensions provide some results which may be felt almost immediately but more typically results become apparent from three to five months later. And as results settle in, patients almost always experience a wide variety of positive responses. Not only do specific pathologies reflect benefits, but such subjective signs as sudden improvement in energy levels, vision, appetite normalization, as well as improved immunological panels and sexual performance are frequently reported.
Indeed, the oldest medical document existent, the Eber papyrus (circa 1550 BC), refers to medicinal preparations made from animal organs. We know that as early as 1499 BC a Hindu physician named Susrata recommended the eating of tiger gonads as a way to cure impotence, and that the ancient Chinese prescribed human placentas as a tonic.
There are many references to the therapeutic use of organs in the Materia Medica of Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, and Homer wrote how Achilles consumed the bone marrow of lions in order to stimulate his own strength and bravery.
If any single man in this century can claim to be thought of as the actual "father" of live cell therapy, it should be Dr. Alexis Carrell (1873-1944), despite his greater fame as a Nobel Prize winner (development of a new technique for sewing up blood vessels end to end).
Following the pioneering work of Ross Harrison at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Carrell also successfully refined techniques of tissue culture research.
Primarily associated with the Rockefeller Center for Medical Research, Dr. Carrell became intimately involved with the early work on organ transplants, ultimately transplanting a kidney from one cat to another.
His greatest breakthrough, from the cellular therapy aspect, was his project in January 1912 in which he succeeded in transplanting heart tissues from a chick in an in-vitro culture - and maintaining the culture in a living state for an astonishing 30 years. It was his controversial work in keeping the fragments of a chicken heart alive for many years after the fowl's death that had a particular impact on Paul Niehans, M.D., who later collaborated with the
Franco- American surgeon and developed what would later become known as live cell or cellular therapy.
A Niehans disciple who later became the bridge between European live cell therapy and the new era of this approach as pioneered in Mexico has recalled in his own monograph that the technique of injection-implantation was first reported in 1912 by Kuttner but for- gotten for a long while. In 1927, Kurtzahn and
Hubener published a major work on thyroid implantation by injection in the treatment of mixedematous children. In 1929 Kuttner published on the injection-transplantation of endocrine glands. What Niehans originally did, independent of the earlier research, was in effect to rediscover Kuttner's procedures, greatly amplify them and develop a comprehensive treatment technique.
Scientific researchers from several countries began working along the lines suggested by Dr. Niehans, and by the mid-1960s papers from investigators in many lands dealing with aspects of cellular therapy were published.
Political and state leaders who received the benefits of cellular therapy have included Konrad Adenauer, Charles DeGaulle, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sir Winston Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Haile Selassi, the monarchs of Morocco and Saudi Arabia, Bernard Baruch, and Joseph Kennedy.
Other notable recipients of the benefits of cellular therapy have included the actors Charlie Chaplin, Robert Cummings, Gloria Swanson and Paulette Goddard; artist Pablo Picasso; playwright Noel Coward; novelist Somerset Maugham, and perhaps the most famous Niehans patient of all -- Pope Pius XII-- who, while dying, summoned Niehans to his bedside for injections and went on to live for four more years.
The techniques involved in obtaining and preserving cellular tissue for treatment purposes have been highly refined by IBC Hospital which in the last 15 years has earmarked many of its efforts in bringing this modality to first-class treatment status for the 21st century.
Another aspect of intensive re- search has been the choosing of the species from which the material is obtained. Sheep have historically been the most
frequently used. However, research has shown that in the particular case of treatment for humans the use of calf tissue is more adequate in most instances.
Recent research has shown that in the case of autoimmune disease cells from rabbits could have an important immune stimulating function.
And, of course, using animal rather than human tissue avoids the ethical concerns which currently mar "fetal cell transplantation" research in the USA.
A frequently asked question about LCT is whether there are allergic or immune responses to the cellular material.
The answer is no --since birth- related tissue ( embryonic/fetal/placental) are incapable of exciting an immune response (they are “immunologically silent”).
Unlike mature cells, which would indeed provoke a potentially fatal allergic reaction, the use of birth-related material causes no recognition of “non-self” by the immune system and, hence, no rejection.
Live cells must either be used immediately or preserved in some manner for future use. Freezing and freeze- drying became the two methods for cell preservation, but the specific manner in which cells are frozen and thawed determines whether they will be viable following storage in the frozen state.
It is now understood that typical freeze-drying not only ruptures cells but inactivates cell recognition receptors and liberates much more antigenic material than from whole cells, and that freezing without cryoprotectants and timed-freezing and thawing techniques alters cells, preventing them from targeting alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and other cellular materials involved in cell transfer and adhesion.
Cell preservation problems have been solved. IBC Hospital has set as a priority the research of modern techniques of cell culture which promise to replace present-day methods of cell preservation. IBC Hospital, in cooperative research with the University of Seoul in Korea, is exploring new techniques to culture and reimplant “self” human cells.
The overwhelming evidence of positive clinical and laboratory results has been responsible for the continued presence of live cell therapy as a valuable tool in modern-day therapeutics. LCT will certainly be an important part of the medicine of the 21st century. It will evolve to more sophisticated forms, and it will be refined through more state-of -the-art technologies.
The final determination of the value of this form of treatment in a particular case will be the interaction of doctor and patient and the analysis of the patient’s clinical and laboratory findings.
An intelligent interaction and flow of information between the patient and his/her doctor will increasingly provide the best way to select the cases in which this form of therapy can be more effective and promising.
We feel that even better results can be accomplished in individuals with better performance status. We strongly recommend that potential candidates for this or other forms of therapy consider a comprehensive restoration of biological performance through the use of proper nutrition, toxicity avoidance, elimination and antioxidant programs. General well- being is the goal.
Should you have questions regarding this form of therapy and whether it is appropriate for you, please refer to your physician for appropriate answers.
Hepatitis C Therapy Program
by Javier Vazquez, MD
Hepatitis C is a viral illness arising from contact with the virus, most often from blood transfusions. This infection is responsible for a chronic illness that affects the liver. Infection with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a leading cause of chronic liver diseases worldwide. The most remarkable and alarming aspect of HCV infection is its high rate of viral persistence and its ability to induce chronic liver disease.
Chronic Hepatitis C is diagnosed clinically due to generalized nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue, low grade fever, flu-like malaise, abdominal fullness, digestive problems, indigestion, and a chronic dull pain in the liver area. Clinical diagnosis is often difficult at the beginning because symptoms can mislead the physician to consider other infectious problems or digestive disturbances. Confirmation of the diagnosis in the laboratory occurs
when there is a persistent elevation in serum transaminases in the presence of HCV antibodies. If these tests are equivocal and the disease is highly suspected, viral load (HCV-RNA detection by PCR) may be confirmatory. In many cases a liver biopsy may be necessary.
One of the primary goals of any therapy is stopping and ultimately eliminating the viral infection. Along with these therapies, a program to support liver function and the patient's immune responsiveness will be of great importance, particularly since enhanced immune activity is able to arrest other forms of viral hepatitis infections.
Oxidative Therapies are the easiest procedures. This often implies the use of BI-OX intravenously during a treatment period of about 20 days. BI-OX is a molecule that will release free oxygen into the blood when injected intravenously. Atomic oxygen is toxic to all forms of parasites, bacteria, fungi and vi- ruses. Other forms of therapy that have a similar effect in releasing free oxygen into the bloodstream may be used in conjunction with the above mentioned therapy.
Ozone is a powerful oxidative agent that may also be used intravenously. These treatments are mainly useful for circulating virus particles, and, although a very important part of the therapy, by themselves will provide only temporary relief from the viral infection, and will also need to be accompained by immune system improvement as a foundation for a long lasting result.
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